Neo Omega
by Silent-Dragon-Magic
Summary: A new reploid has appeared. A shadow pulled from legend. Is she truly on the Hunter's side? Or will she inevitably become a Maverick herself? And how is Zero connected to this 'Time of Insurrection' she keeps talking about? (This is my first posted fic)
1. Chapter 1: The Awakening

Okay… first things first. The disclaimer. I don't own Megaman X, or Zero, or most of the other things here. That all belongs to Capcom, or who ever it is. isn't up to date with all the licensing stuff Lucky them. Secondly, I'm new at this. So if the story sucks, well… Sorry. I'm also afraid that there won't be any yaoi. I'm no good at it, believe me, I'm not. Please, read and review. Your comments will help me make this worth reading. So anyway… On with the show!

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CHAPTER 1

"Are you sure this is her? I mean, so many rumors… So many scams… Have we finally found her? The second of her type… The rumored Beta... Is this really her?"  
"She has the mark. Right on the nape of her neck. See? The Roman numeral two. Just as the stories said."  
"But they're still stories. If this is her… How can we be sure?"  
"Wake her up, and ask."

_Who was this? Who were these people who interrupted her slumber? She had been told to await the coming. To sleep until the Time of Insurrection. Wait until she was needed. Who dared to disturb her? She wanted to punish them for their idiocy, but that would require waking_

"Wake her up? Are you insane?!"  
"No. But how else will we know?"  
"There has to be something. A designator- SOMETHING that will tell us who she is, what her model number is. If it matches, then we'll see about waking her. If not, we ship her off to the doctor and let him play with her."

_What is this? Had the Time of Insurrection come? Was it time for her to awaken? The fearsome power of the storms, the fierce beauty of lightning was hers to command. Yet was it time?_

"I think I found it!"  
"Really? Let me see…"  
"I can't read Latin. What's it say?"  
"… '_EGO sum novus omega, EGO mos insisto meus voluntas ut sepulchrum in obscurum, quod addo nex quod letum illis quisnam insurgo'_. In English that's… 'I am the new omega, I will follow my purpose to the grave in darkness, and bring death and annihilation to those who rebel.' "  
"That's what it says? I wonder who she means?"  
"I think we really have found her… Neo-omega-atra-exequor-lectum. The legendary bringer of death. How many people have looked for her? How many have lost their lives seeking this one robot?"  
"Dozens, at least."

_Her designation. It must be time… _

"Wh- What? She's moving!" The man who had been discussing her searchers fell backwards, his companion wasn't far behind. Something shifted, they couldn't pin it down in their terrified states, and the air seemed to grow thick around them. Staring frightfully they saw the woman they had searched for for so long rise out of her crystalline imprisonment. She set her feet gently on the floor, and stood in one graceful, fluid motion. She took notice of the men who had awoken her, and looked down her nose at them. She was maybe five feet ten inches tall, dressed in a black suit of powered armor. Her helmet threw deep shadows over her eyes, making their color and shape unidentifiable. When she spoke, it was in a voice that was quiet, and yet still clear in the strange air.  
"What is the year, mortal?"  
"T-the year?"  
"Yes. What is the year?"  
"T-twenty-w-one XX"  
"Ah. Thank you." She nodded at them, her long black hair bobbing forward. "And farewell. I have business to attend to that cannot wait."  
"You can't leave." The other man, the second to fall backwards, said. "We found you. You belong to us."  
"I belong to no man." She replied. "I am the crusher of rebellion. You cannot control me."  
"Non-sense. You're a robot. You belong to us now."  
She smiled thinly, icily. "Really? Are you sure?" They fell back nervously.  
"Y-yeah…"  
"I wouldn't be. At least… Not if I were you." She stepped forward, then looked back and put her hands on the capsule; it vanished. Everything that had anything to do with her, vanished. "Goodbye, humans." She walked away, down the hall and left.  
"W-What just happened?" They asked each other, eyes wide and a little frightened.

_EGO sum novus omega, EGO mos insisto meus voluntas ut sepulchrum in obscurum, quod addo nex quod letum illis quisnam insurgo. I am the new omega, I will follow my purpose to the grave in darkness, and bring death and annihilation to those who rebel. This is my purpose. This is what I was built to do. But is it the Time of Insurrection? Is it time for me to walk with the waking world? I cannot say until I have seen the state of the world._

"Ah." She put her arm up to shield her eyes from the sun's glare. "It's so beautiful… Can this truly be the time of war? Did war ever leave the land beautiful? Ever leave it whole and untainted?" She shook her head. There were always havens, places left unscathed. Perhaps this was one. Again she started forward, her hair hiding her neck, and the tiny, black Roman numeral two rimmed in gold. She watched silently as people hurried up and down streets: as they rushed to their jobs, or their homes, or to finish the shopping. She watched them with half lidded eyes as the rain started to fall, lightly, sprinkling her, and everyone, making them rush all the more.

An alarm blared. Her eyes widened as the atmosphere changed. Within moments the street was empty of everyone. Everyone that is, except her. She looked down the street and opened her ears. She ignored the sound of the gentle rainfall. Ignored the sounds of animals taking cover. Even her own breathing faded away until it was just her, the trickle of water from her helm, and whatever was coming. Howls cut through the silence of the street. Howls of rage, frustration… and madness. There was definitely the taint of madness in their voices. She looked down the street at these new foes- and smiled.  
They slowed, seeing a lone, black-clad warrior with eyes hidden by the darkness of her helm, and water running off of her in unnoticed streams. Then they charged, loosing howls louder than before. She met their charge with her own. One whispered word hung in the air behind her, and turned the rain around it to ice by the coldness with which she said it. "Insurrection."  
Minutes- moments- later, not one of her foes were left. All lay in the rain-soaked road, sparking, and dripping oil. She turned one over, and looked at his eyes- red: the red of fresh-drawn blood. "The Time has come indeed." She murmured, and walked slowly down the street, and out of the city. The rainfall increased and washed the streets of blood.

"What is this?" A soldier asked, looking around nervously. The streets shone clean, washed free of all taints. All taints except those of death. The dead still lay where they had fallen. Pitiful heaps of things that used to live.  
"That's… A good question." The man at the head replied, glancing around. "Could they have done it?" He stopped, and blinked down at the only man who was face up- staring red eyes met his bright blues. "No… These… These men are mavericks. No local militia."  
"But… Who? I know this town. They keep sentries on the wall, then send out an alarm when they seem them. Nobody stays to fight." Another remarked from the ranks, coming forward. "There's no reason these guys shouldn't be walking around drinking, or attacking us."  
"True…" The commander agreed, then sighed. "It had to rain." He muttered, looking around.  
"What sir?"  
"It had to rain. If it hadn't, we might have been able to track whoever did this. There's no way they would have been able to leave with out leaving SOME kind of trail. Blood on their shoes, or dripping from wounds."  
"How do we know it wasn't more than one?"  
"We don't. Another reason I wish it hadn't rained. We would be able to tell."  
"Should we go home?"  
"No. There's too much that we can do here. Like making sure these were all of them, and that the civilians are okay. Then, maybe, if nothing else strange comes up, we will return."  
They were almost done in the city, when someone stumbled, managing to knock over six others. Righting herself, she apologized.

"What was that all about? You aren't usually such a klutz." One of the girls the woman had knocked into murmured.  
"I thought I saw someone standing on that building. A woman, dressed all in black… But when I looked again… She was gone."  
"It was probably a trick of the light."  
"Yeah." The woman replied. "Illusion."  
"While I admit I am unusual, I am no illusion." An eerily quiet voice said from behind the two females. They spun, startled, and gasped. The speaker was a tall woman dressed in black armor and a helmet that shielded her eyes from view. Her figure was one men would die for, and she radiated an air of confidence that none of the soldiers, except maybe their commander, could hope to have. She watched them, her face, what little they could see, was blank, showing no emotion, and gave no semblance of caring.  
"W-who are you?" The one who had first seen her asked, nervously.  
"Yes… Who are you?" The commander asked, and put his left hand on her left shoulder, or tried to. With three quick back-flips she was over his head and out of reach.  
"I am many things." She replied.  
"Then what are you called?" He asked, amused, and a little awed in spite of himself- she was fast, and her reflexes were amazing.  
"Many things." She replied, still apathetic seeming.  
"Then what is your name?"  
"I have none."  
"A designation?"  
"Neo-Omega-Atra-Exequor-lectum." She replied, "And what are you called? What is your designation?"  
"Zero. Zero Omega Light." The man replied.


	2. Chapter 2: A Name?

Wee- Took me long enough, but I finally decided that I didn't hate this enough to post it. Ok. Don't own Megaman X, Zero, The hunters, etc. Neo-Omega(the character, and story now that I think about it) is completely a figmant of my imagination. Capcom(or who ever it is that owns the rights to these games is) has absolutely nothing to do with my insane imaginings. That said, on with the show! -walks off stage, lights dim and curtain rises-

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"Zero. Zero Omega Light." The man replied. She stiffened. Before she had been standing casually, almost lounging on air, now she stood erect, startled.  
"Omega?" She asked, a note of shock in her voice. "You are the First?"  
"First what?"  
"I have no time for this. I have work that must be done immediately. The Time of Insurrection is coming to an end. I was not certain before, though those who fight in madness held me from returning to my slumber. Yet if the First is awake, then I cannot sleep. I must end the Rebellion." She turned slightly and a flash of light caught Zero's eyes, and blinded him. From the sounds behind him, the others were blind as well. When the light-spots finally cleared, she was gone.

"Neo… Omega?" He asked the air.  
"It means she is the newest of the last. She is the dark follower to the grave and death, or annihilation."  
"What?"  
"Neo-Omega-Atra-Exeqour-Lectum. New-Last-Dark-Follow to the grave-Death, or annihilation. That's what it means in Latin. Except for the neo, it's an English prefix."  
"I've heard of her. She's a legend. The Bringer of Death. But… She's just a legend." Another soldier put in.  
"Troy was 'just a legend' too. Don't forget that." Zero replied, softly. "What do you know about her?"  
"She is a robot, as old as any, older than most. It is said that when the Time of Insurrection comes, she will awaken, and rise to walk among the mortals. When the Rebels are crushed, she will return to her slumber until such a time as the world requires her again."  
"Isn't there anything ELSE?"  
The woman shook her head. "It's just a legend sir." She said, somewhat regretfully. "Most people don't even remember about her."  
"Including every one of ya'll. Except you." She shrugged. "How much can we get on her? Legends, stories, I don't care if it's total fiction. I want it."  
"I'll do what I can, sir. But I can't guarantee anything."  
"I don't need guarantees, I want results. Talk to grannies if you have too. We have a new factor to deal with, and if she can do this alone," He waved at the dead, "I want to know what I can. ALL I can. Because if she goes over to them… We'll have trouble." His people traded looks and nodded. She wasn't an ally, but she wasn't an enemy, either. Not yet.

_So it is time. I am to walk amongst the mortals and destroy those who seek to slay heedlessly. But… _The problem with having been given a mind of her own, she thought, was that she could see that maybe these madmen weren't entirely wrong_. That could be a problem. Sympathy… What kind of warrior needs sympathy?_ She looked down on the city where Omega worked with his people. Rain fell on and around her unheeded. _Why had they come, those madmen? And what was it about them? They fought well, but with a recklessness that seems surprising. What does it matter?_ She turned abruptly away from her view and stalked down the road._ It's not as if I have a choice about who I fight. The rebellion must be destroyed. Must be crushed. They who slay without thought must not survive. The Time of Insurrection must end, and then… Then I may sleep again. Then I may sleep until the world calls me back._  
She walked on, ignoring the buildings she saw. People watched her from their windows, she knew: she could feel their stares as she passed. She didn't care. If anyone wished to follow her, they would have a battle of it. Between the steady flow of rain, and her own speed, she would be long gone before anyone found her. Where she was going, she didn't know, nor did she really care.  
Something bothered her still_- Omega. Why didn't I waken when he did? Wasn't that how it was suppose to work? Or was I only to awaken when he was to be laid down? It all seems rather confusing. _She wished fleetingly that she had more information on it than she'd been given, but that was a waste of time, she decided _It has been a hundred years, and the First is awake. Had the curse reached him? And if so, what had he done about it? How had he fixed it? For surely, there was no taint of madness in him now._

"Hmph." She snorted, and looked around her, finally taking notice of her surroundings. There were few buildings out here, and this road looked a little worse for wear. One of the taller buildings, a ten-story thing with broken windows and cracked walls, seemed sturdy enough, and she could deal with anyone who bothered her. But the main point in its favor was that it appeared abandoned. She slipped through a broken window- the door was boarded shut- and glanced around. The room she was in was dusty, cobwebs stretched in corners and the rain had soaked the floor. Judging by how weak it felt beneath her feet, many such rains had seeped beneath the ruined carpeting to the floor beneath. She would have to step carefully, lest the rotten floor gave beneath her.  
The next room, also empty, was in better condition. A solid floor covered in a thick layer of dust met her feet, no furniture, and many cobwebs met her eyes. She settled quietly into a corner. _He had wanted her name, but… I had none. My designation, yes, but a name? His was the first word of his designation, but Neo-Omega, just didn't seem right. Perhaps the last word? Lectum? Or Atra, even?_ She voiced a silent sigh. _This will be harder than I'd first thought. But the First is right. A name is required if I'm to find my way through this world. Atra… _She would go by Atra, for now. Perhaps, once everything was over, if she still walked, she would choose another name...

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Ok. You may or may not like it, I'm sorry if you read it, and died of boredom. Really, I am. It isn't good if my readers die- then I don't have readers. Anyway... I have the next chapter ready, and I might post it now, or I might not. I have to decide if I like it first- and we've all seen how long _that_ can take, so, well... More when I decide I don't hate the stuff that comes out of my fingers and head. See ya. Oh yeah, Reveiw please! If you died of boredom, your notes will help me make this more exciteing.


	3. Chapter 3: Questions

Ok, more disclaimer. I still don't own Megaman X, Zero, this world, etc. Most of that belongs to who ever holds the license, which, to my infinite grief, is not me. Anyway, Chapter three. Hope ya'll enjoy. And thanks for encouragement. Read and review, please! Now, enough of me chattering. On with the story!

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"… It seems a team of archeologists- amateurs- found a reploid in the new ruins down in the north." Cain said thoughtfully. "Before they had realized what they were doing, they had awoken the reploid sealed in a lower chamber. She made everything in the room with her vanish, and left. I wasn't sure whether I believed this nonsense or not." He spun his chair around to face the chair where Zero lounged. "Yet it seems they were telling the truth. This woman you described matches the descriptions they gave exactly."  
"So she's a renegade?"  
"No… Not exactly. She isn't on anyone's side, as of yet. From your report though, she's powerful. And such power could be… problematic, to say the least, if it landed in the wrong hands."  
"Are you saying we have to capture her?" Zero shifted. That didn't seem right, while she might not be on their side, she still had rights.  
"No… But perhaps we should recruit her? Bring her over to the Hunters. She might be useful to us."  
"This doesn't seem…"  
"Honest?" Cain asked. "No. I suppose it's not. If you meet her again though, invite her to come with you."  
"I doubt she would agree." Signas said, coming over from where he stood by the window watching the rain and taking another chair. "From what Zero's said, I don't think she cares much for him."  
"I don't think she cares about me at all." Zero muttered.  
"Maybe not," Cain agreed, "But she did call you the "First," so maybe there's some kind of connection between the two of you?"  
"Connection? I never met her till earlier today!" Zero protested.  
"Not an emotional connection." Cain said, "I meant something more physical than that. Like perhaps you were made by the same person."  
"Wily? Show such forethought?" Zero asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"It's possible." Cain countered, "Records show that he did it at LEAST once."  
"All very well and good what this deceased man may, or may not have done," Signas interrupted before Zero could reply. "But I believe we were discussing this female. Neo- something?"  
"Neo-Omega." Zero supplied, "Neo-Omega-Exeqour-Atra-lectum. Or something like that. I'm not certain that's right."  
"Neo-Omega?" Cain asked, surprised.  
"Yeah. Why?"  
"I'd thought that's what those men had said…" He went to a shelf and pulled down a book. He returned to his chair while he flipped through it.  
"Something of interest?" Signas asked.  
"Yes… Neo-Omega… Ah. Here it is… 'She will bring to an end the destruction I have wrought. I failed in my duty, but perhaps… She is my last hope. I pray that she will succeed where everything else I have attempted has failed. Neo-Omega-Atra-Exequor-lectum, my only legacy, my only heir, I regret leaving such a burden in her hands, but I fear that she will be required. If Omega ever awakens to his full potential… Perhaps she will be able to stop him. As the Beta version, she has abilities that I will not detail here. And maybe… Maybe she will prevent the rebellion entirely, keep Omega from coming to his full strength. I will not write here where I have laid her to rest, no more than I will tell her strengths, or weaknesses, if she even has them.  
Hopefully she will never turn against her programming. If she does… I don't know that anything could stop her. I fear… that perhaps this being that I have made… will become far more fearsome than her predecessor ever could be….' And that's most of the interesting stuff." Cain set the book on his table and frowned at it.  
"Wily wrote that? But I thought he was bent on world domination?"  
"He was," was Cain's absent-minded reply.  
"Then why would he…?"  
"He wouldn't. The writer of this pretty piece is unknown. Perhaps it was Wily, but perhaps not. He certainly speaks as if he built you, but…" He shook his head as he leaned back in his chair.  
"But what?" Signas queried.  
"Some things don't add up. If Neo-Omega was his 'only legacy, his only heir,' then…"  
"Then what about me?" Zero finished, looking up from the floor.  
"Exactly. " Cain nodded. "Which leads me to believe that this wasn't written by Wily." He tapped the book, "But by someone else who felt that what Wily did was partly their fault. Perhaps, because they failed to stop him when he was alive."  
"But if she's the beta version of me…" Zero trailed off, turning an idea over.  
"Then it would have to be one of Wily's designs."  
"Which means this person was either a repentant Wily, or someone who was close enough to Wily to steal a design."  
"Or they were a really good thief." Signas added.  
"True. But first they'd have to find out he had a design worth stealing."  
"So either way, it doesn't really matter." Zero said. "Her builder's long since dead. So's Wily, and so's Light. So let's get back on track."  
"Right. He mentions her power. Any idea just how strong that is?" Signas inquired.  
Cain shook his head, and Zero replied, "Strong enough to take out roughly two-dozen Mavericks. Single-handedly, might I add. At least… I assume she did it alone."  
"This isn't much to go on. Have you got any OTHER interesting little books like that one?" Signas flicked a finger at the book on Cain's desk.  
"Yes. I have quite a few of these. But I think this was the author's journal at the time he was building Neo-Omega."  
"Great," Zero muttered, "I'm up against somebody new with absolutely no data."  
Cain shook his head and got another book.  
"What's that?"  
"Another journal. Author also unknown." Cain answered Signas as he flipped the book open. "I just remembered it. Someone sent it to me two or three weeks ago when I was really busy. I put it up and forgot about it." He started reading, tuning out both Zero and Signas as they talked quietly about plans and other militarian things.

"… It seems… It seems that he hasn't given up yet. Light relies so much on Megaman to thwart him, that he doesn't realize that he won't last forever. I'm torn between the two of them, Light and Wily. They were so close once… I wonder what went wrong in Wily's head? I heard him talking about a 'last stand,' but I can't even begin to guess what he means. Light has his own counter measure, I think. I feel that I have failed. Light and Wily are still… opposed? And I have done nothing to further either one. I fear… I fear what Wily will do. He said something about an Omega, but… I don't know…""What was that?" Zero asked, looking away from the window.  
"Something about Light and Wily. There's mention of Omega…"  
"Great. Something else about me." Zero grumbled.  
"I think… Yes. It has long since passed the time that I take a stand. Omega… Omega will not be the Omega." Cain read from another page.  
"Is that writer playing with words?" Zero asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"I suppose so." Cain replied, paging further in.  
"Tell me if you find anything more." Zero said, getting to his feet. "I'm going to go charge."  
"Mmm." Cain acknowledged him.  
"See you later, Zero."

It was dawn, and Atra, as she had named herself, was already gone from the building. She'd left with the first light. After all, the early bird gets the worm. Or maybe the worm gets the bird? She stopped and looked around, feeling someone watching her. _Err on the side of caution_, she decided and stepped off the road. It turned out to be a good idea. She heard people marching, or walking in-step with each other, at least.  
"She stayed at that building for the night, so she had to have taken this road!" one man complained.  
"And if she didn't? This is a wild goose chase no matter how we look at it. The only thing I don't get is- why didn't Commander Zero come with us? This is as much his hunt as anyone's!" Someone else griped.  
"Who are we to question orders?" A third asked. "We do what we're told to do."  
"Yeah," the first agreed, "but I don't get why he didn't come with us, either."  
"I still say it's a goose chase." The second said, stopping, or so she conjectured, since the marching stopped. "What if she just took a convenient track off the road? Like that one?" Atra stiffened in her hiding place.  
"You know…" The third one said, voice sounding closer, "That looks fairly new…"  
"Could our little lost lamb have turned off here?" The first inquired. His voice, too, sounded louder in her ears.  
"Why don't we just check?" The second demanded, walking over. He pushed the tall grass aside and Atra uncurled with an uppercut towards the man's chin. He jumped back fast enough that it just skimmed his face. He yelped.

"Guess it wasn't as much of a goose chase as you thought." One, the first of the three speakers, commented, falling back a few steps. The last man, the third speaker, imitated him.  
"We found our lamb. Now what?"  
"We take her in." The second man said with more confidence than he felt.  
"She's to fast." The third replied. "I say we parley."  
"What does it matter?" Atra asked, interrupting. "I am not inclined to go with you, unless I were to be presented with an adequate… persuasion."  
"So it's force or nothing?" The first asked her, an unhappy worried expression on his face and in the tone of his voice.  
"I did not say that." Her soft voice cut through the late morning with ease. "I merely require persuasion. And a great deal of it, I doubt not."  
"I'm not the best talker…" The first one confessed.  
"Then leave the talking to other, more capable people." Atra replied calmly. "Or let there be no talk at all. I do have things that require my attention."  
"Like killing humans?" Someone murmured. Atra didn't even bother to look. She'd sensed them coming, and she could feel his madness; it was nearly overpowering this close to her. The people she had been speaking with look positively appalled.  
"Why… No." She replied, spinning a kick into the maverick's ribs. "I have a rebellion to put down." She stepped onto his back as he tried to stand. There was a sick crunching-snap sound as she broke his spine. The fight was brief. The Mavericks didn't stand a chance. She dispatched the last one and looked at the three men.

They were bleeding from cuts, one's arm sparked, and another's chest was oozing, with little flashes of silver-gold light flickering through it. She considered her own injuries, then laughed mentally at herself. _What_ injuries? Those madmen hadn't been anywhere near fast enough to catch her, much less cut her. She turned back to the hunters and felt something twist inside. She sighed, and walked over to the one with the hurt chest, a repair kit in her hands.

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Ok... Chapter three, come and gone. Thanks for constructive reviews and advice and all. I really do appreciate it. Demented-Demon, especially. I hadn't even realized I was staying in third person for the thought bubbles.


	4. Chapter 4: Recollections, or Illusion?

Well... Took me long enough to get this up... I had it waiting and waiting... But anyway, I hope whoever still reads this enjoys it (my isn't there a lot of dust here?) And I still don't own the Megaman universe. That belongs to whoever it belongs to -my memory isn't functioning on normal levels- and as much as I might want the licenses, well... I'm still not gonna get them. So enough chatter. Read on, and try not inhale the dust.

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CHAPTER 4 

Damion staggered back, a gash opened on his chest. A blue-black blade stab through his attacker's chest. She was like a Norse Valkyrie, Damion thought with admiration. He and his comrades fought, but she must have slain half the force by herself. Her hair swirled around her as she dealt harshly with the Mavericks that had sneaked up on them. The last man fell, and she turned to them. What was going on, in her mind, as she looked at them? Why did she sigh, and walk towards him? And where did that repair kit come from?  
"You are amateurs." Damion blinked at her.  
"We are?"  
"You could have avoided this." She tinkered with the slash and it stopped sparking and the oozing ceased. Se turned to Orion and fixed his arms. She stepped back and eyed them with dislike. "I will have no peace until I satisfy the First's curiosity, will I?"  
"Who?" Damion had never felt like such a fool. At least he wasn't the only one. Orion and Andrew both looked just as confused.  
"The First. Omega. He names himself 'Zero.' " She sighed. "I will come. But I will not stay."  
Why did he feel grateful, that she was coming with them? Shouldn't he be worried? "Thank you." Damion said, and they returned to base.

"They found her?" Cain inquired sleepily. It was well past 1100, but he had stayed up late reading those journals. A waste of time, but at least he knew it now.  
"Yeah. Sergeant Damion and the two people he took with him- don't remember their names right now- brought her in a few minutes ago." Zero said. "Now get up."  
Cain snorted and dragged himself out of bed. Confident that he would stay awake, Zero went to the door. "By the way, we'll be in room C-29," with that token of farewell, he wandered out, and down the hall.

She had come. The news finally sank in. Neo-Omega had actually come back with his sergeant. Why? Could she want something they had? If so, then what? Or who? He banished that thought with a shake of his head. Too far fetched. But what did she mean, she'd come, but wouldn't stay? It's not like you can just walk out of the base without consequences, without getting caught.  
He would have to revise that opinion soon.

He walked in casually, wondering if she was really the Neo-Omega he'd met. Zero caught a glimpse of her, surrounded by Hunters, and was certain: definitely her. Nobody he knew had a figure like that. He braced himself for an unpleasant interview and pushed through the crowds."Omega." She gave him a slight bow of recognition.  
"Neo-Omega." He returned her bow, then met her eyes, or the shadows that hid her eyes. Despite the bright lights of HQ, he still couldn't make out her face or any of the major features, except her chin and curving smile. They seemed familiar…  
"Now… Will you be so kind as to give me an explanation for setting your inept soldiers on my trail?"  
"I didn't set them on you," He replied, all innocence. Her lips curved further into a wry smile.  
"Do I look like a fool?"  
"It's hard to tell," he returned, "Maybe if you removed your helmet I could say."  
The smile vanished and she seemed colder. "You… I should have expected no less from the First. I want a real answer, Omega."  
"I'm Zero. Remember?"  
"I do not forget things, Zero." Her soft voice emphasized the name, almost insultingly, "Indeed, I remember things that I never saw." She leaned forward and whispered something in his ear.  
"I… Never…" He stared at her, and stepped back. "I didn't… I swear…" How had she done that? In one brief moment she'd broken through his calm exterior and roused memories of things he'd never seen, never done. How?  
"If you didn't, then why such a reaction?" she sounded as if she really cared.  
"I… remember… But I know I didn't!" He was on the defensive, a headache throbbed dully in the back of his mind as her assault continued. What did she want from him?  
"I am not the only one, it seems, that knows what I have not done." There was a dry tone that hinted at laughter. "Perhaps it is inherent in the Omega line?"  
"Stop it…" He shook his head and staggered back again.  
"I am doing nothing but asking questions." She stepped towards him, "Why was I followed? Who has rebelled? Who is it who is truly hunted?" She tilted her head, "I want these answers. If I do not get them here, I will find them elsewhere."  
"It was necessary to ensure that you didn't harm anyone, or come to harm yourself." Cain said, walking in. "And I am the one who had you followed."  
"You?" She turned to him, releasing Zero from whatever it was she'd grasped him in. "What is it to you, what I do?"  
He shrugged. "Familiar with this? 'Neo-Omega-Atra-Exequor-Lectum, my only legacy, my only heir, I regret leaving such a burden in your hands, but I fear that you will be required. If Omega ever awakens to his full potential… Perhaps you will be able to stop him. As the Beta version, you have abilities that I will not detail to you, or anyone. These you must find for yourself.' "  
It was her turn to stagger, a hand going to her head. "Fa…" She straitened abruptly, getting a hold on herself; her hand dropped to her side, dangerously close to her sword. "Where did you find that? For you did not make it up!"  
"A book someone gave me. Care to learn more?" She shivered.  
"No. No… I don't think I would care for that that at all," She shook her head. "I will ask that you do not have me followed again- I cannot promise that I will not treat them as I have treated others who attacked me. And I wish to know who it is who has rebelled, and who is being hunted."  
"The Mavericks rebelled. They kill humans, and we hunt them. It's pretty much a hate-hate relationship." He shrugged and her lips curved into a smile again.  
"Your manor of speech is amusing, Mortal. If I had no pressing engagements, I might would remain and speak more with you. However, such engagements I do have, so our conversation must wait till my course is completed, or perhaps," Her voice turned darker, "much longer."  
"Or we could converse now," He gestured at the crowd around her, "You seem to be hindered in exiting, so why not?"  
Atra examined the people, the men all had similar looks on their faces and she nearly sneered. _'Men, are they all alike?_' she pondered, her eyes roaming to the women, they looked more ready to fight, _'Territorial disputes, no one enjoys them,'_ Atra decided, and turned back to Cain.  
"I don't seem to be much hindered. I think that I shall exit this base when I wish to."  
"And when do you wish?"  
"Will you be giving me any more information? No? Then now." She ran down the aisle that had opened up around Zero, jumped when she was a few feet away from him, and used his back as a hurdle to get over the rest as he ducked. She vanished into the shadows of the corridor before anyone had so much as taken a step, and long before Zero had managed to pick himself up off the floor and swiped the dust from his armor.

"Quick little witch," He muttered, again a little awed by her abilities, and a little annoyed by her escape. Using him for a springboard, though? He chuckled and wandered down the hall she'd escaped into. Clever, How had she known he would duck? Perhaps she went by her own instincts, which might match his, if they were so similar. He shivered, remembering the images that she had called to mind, and thrust it away from his conscious. And why did she refuse to remove her helmet? It's not like there was any real reason to. And why did she seem so familiar?  
It never occurred to him to look in a mirror.


	5. Chapter 5: A Warning

Heh. Chapter five. Again, I don't own the Megaman world Zero, Cain, anyone except Atra and the story line. I say again that Capcom (they do still own it right?) Anyway... Read on. Enjoy. Do as you like. comments are welcome- especially the critical ones. They help me get this stuff right. So, adieu.

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CHAPTER 5 

Atra walked in the stillness of the forest, chuckling merrily at the Hunters. _They're so slow! And the First, too!_ She laughed again, and stopped, startled by the appearance of a deer ahead of her. She smiled and laughed as it bounded away. _How can so many places be so free still?_ She listened to the softness of the bird-song. _It seems so pure_, she thought, _compared to the city. Untouched by the War, untouched by grief that isn't natural._ She smiled and continued her stroll. It had been easy to escape, she'd found, just by sticking to the shadows, and the occasional corner of the ceiling.  
_Why didn't the First give chase, though? _She wondered, finding a tree to climb- one of the century old oaks that this forest sported. She settled against the trunk and looked out over the treetops. _He could have caught me, I'm sure. I may be faster, but he has the experience hunting. _She snorted, _Well… maybe not, but… Why didn't he follow? Could he think I'll lead them somewhere? I'll have to find the Lab before I can do anything, really. It should know what's going on. But if they follow me there- where ever there is- what then? It doesn't seem right to just kill them. No, _She shook her head_, I warned them. If they send someone after me, he is an enemy. I will not become the hunted._

"I thought you said she was here!" Someone growled far below. She prowled down wards till she could see the forest floor and the small squad of men there.  
"She _is_!" Another man whined. "We just can't see her…"  
"What, so now she can turn invisible? Dammit, just _find_ her!"

Atra pulled back, a sneer growing on her face. _How revolting, _She thought, disgusted_. These… people, seek me, and in such an obvious manner? Of course they cannot find me! But… They knew where I was… A tracking device? When could it have been installed? Before I woke?_ She settled back in her previous spot, and ran status scans. _Clear. That's not right. If I'm clear, then how…? _She shrugged the question off and started into the next tree, determined to be out of the forest before they thought to look up.

She landed softly in the grass beyond the trees and started walking. Somewhere around here, in this broken world, she would find what she sought. Preferably before everyone else found her.

"Nothing?" Zero inquired, "After all that work… Still nothing?" Six weeks had been spent trying to locate Neo-Omega. And still all they had were rumors, and the occasional slain squad. Usually the enemy's, but after she threw Callion through a building, no one was laying any bets that they wouldn't be next.  
"Zero, you understand how well this girl can hide," Cain said patiently, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Her speed is phenomenal, and all that black blends into shadows like a chip in the night. We can't find her. The only thing we can say, is that she doesn't seem to be with the Mavericks, but that doesn't mean she won't join them."  
"Cain, you're the one who sent out all those crews, not one of them has any definite information?"  
"Only Callion, and that was a week and a half ago."  
"Better than nothing, where was she?"  
"Trans."  
"Trans? Isn't that almost-"  
"Yes, Zero, it is. All we have, is this. She threw it after Callion, then marched out of the city. No one wanted to try and stop her."  
"I don't blame them," Zero replied, picking up the holo-disk. "What's on it?"  
"Watch it."  
"Cain…"  
"Fine, don't. It's your choice. I'm going back to my books to see if there's _anything_ what-so-ever that I might have missed." Cain rose, and turned to leave.  
"Is this important?"  
"Important enough," Cain shrugged, "She doesn't seem pleased by our attentions. She makes _that_ clear, if nothing else."  
"Cain…" Zero began again, then sighed. If Cain was going to be cryptic, then there was nothing for it but to watch the holo. He shook his head and slipped it into the player that was sitting on the desk.

There was silence for a minute, and then he saw nothing but shadows. A blot of darkness moved, and his eyes fixed on it. "_I warned you, Omega" _Neo-Omega's voice said eerily soft, even as a recording. "_Your people have been lucky-" _He snorted, he wouldn't call being thrown through a building 'lucky'- "_None have died. Yet. I cannot promise that that will last. The closer they come, the more lethal my attacks." _Her voice hardened._ "I do not take well to being followed. If you must trace me, do it properly. No matter what though, you will find yourself regretting your actions." _Zero smirked. That was as unlikely as him not killing a maverick, but he continued to listen. _"The time has come for an end to this rebellion. An end to the Time of Insurrection. I should think that you would be glad, since you appear to be opposed to those who bring chaos."_  
The darker blot seemed to shrug and continued, _"But perhaps I mistake you. Perhaps you are a snake waiting in the grass. It matters not. The next man who comes after me -be he human or reploid, male or female, maverick or Hunter- will suffer. Far worse than the one who received this disk in the first place. I am not cruel, but I like my secrets kept. Cease your pursuit of me, or tell that amusing mortal to cease pestering me. I will bite if not treated properly, and I can be as poisonous as any viper," _her tone turned somewhere between kind and mocking as she continued,_ "as you found out when we had that little chat. I end this here. Beware of me, Omega. You know not the cause for which I was built."_ The holo ended abruptly, leaving Zero with the impression that he'd just been told something profoundly important, and hadn't been listening.

He played the hologram twice more just to be sure, then ejected the disc and went to pester Cain.


	6. Chapter 6: Zero's Mission

Still don't have the license, it's still whoever's it is. Atra and the rest of Neo Omega still remains a figment of my writing. Before I post any more chapters, I'm just going to warn that it might not be pleasent reading for a while. I seem to be muddling the chapters. Anyway... hopefully this one doesn't leave me with a bunch of mummies to deal with. I'll just keep my fingers crossed. Read and Review please.

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CHAPTER 6

"What did you get off it?" Cain asked the second Zero appeared in his doorway. The hunter dropped the holo-disc on Cain's desk and dropped into a padded chair. He tossed one leg over the arm and draped his head over the other arm.  
"Leave me alone, a major superiority complex, and a love of privacy. Not to mention the feeling she said something important while I wasn't listening."  
"You too?" Cain inquired, looking up. Zero nodded.  
"She doesn't make much sense. Why should I care why she was built? All I know is she's got something to do with that blasted 'time of insurrection.' And she still hasn't said what's so important about the rebellion. Mavericks have been rebelling for years, so what? They aren't going to stop just because we tell them too. They proved that over the course of several wars."  
"I know, Zero, I know," Cain said with a sigh. "But she's new. You know she's new. She hasn't lived through the last wars. She hasn't fought. She doesn't know what's going on." He pinched the bridge of his nose, then slid his face into his hands. "I hate to say it… But if she joins with them-" They all knew that them referred to the Mavericks, "-We're really in trouble. We don't have the manpower to fight her. Callion's up in the top list of our Hunter's- he used to be your second-in-command." Zero nodded. "If she could handle him as if he were no more than a stuffed toy, then, well… I think we're doomed."  
"You over-estimate her," Zero retorted, ignoring the fact that he had thought something very similar after his first meeting with the Black Omega. "She can't be as bad as all that. She probably caught him off guard." Even as he said it though, Zero knew the falseness of his words. Cain just looked at him between his fingers.  
Signas knocked on the open door then entered. "Good, you're here Zero, I might want you to check this out. Cain, earlier today, one of our outposts reported activity in the roots of one of the older excavation sites. Site A-6, you recall? Well, they shut the lower area's down due to cave-ins."  
"And it's active again?" Zero perked up; maybe he'd get to get his mind off of Neo-Omega for a while.  
"Exactly. They sent a team to investigate, but whoever- or whatever- is down there, activated the defense system, and no one could get in. The last one who tried was hospitalized for a week."  
"So you want me to investigate?"  
"With your crew, if you wouldn't mind?"  
"Do I have to?" He made a face, he sounded like a third-grader who was being told to do chores.  
"Yes. I'm not going to lose one of my best Hunter's because he went off and played the rouge."  
"Yes sir," Zero's voice was glum. He wanted to play the Rouge Hunter, but it would be pretty stupid to go against an unknown number alone. "I'll behave- on this mission, at least." Signas shook his head, knowing he'd get nothing more from his ace general.  
"Get ready today, will you? I have a bad feeling about this."  
"I'll get everyone moving within the hour," he promised, getting up. "Try not to break Cain, and Cain, try not to break Signas: we need our commanding general." The two men smiled, and chorused meekly, "Yes, Zero." Zero grinned and left the room, eagerly scrounging up his people.

Atra's eyes darkened with fury. Another impudent mortal was coming to disturb her! She carefully checked over the defensive perimeter. _Father would never forgive me if I let just anyone play around in the lab. Darkness, he never let _**me**_ play around here. At least I have the records his monitors took while I slept._ She smiled wryly. He had waited until she was just barely old enough to understand before he put her to sleep for a hundred odd years. Her fury blazed when she saw who led the intruders. The First! "He would," she muttered, and typed in orders.

"Approach with caution," Zero ordered, "We don't need anyone hospitalized.""Yes sir- Ow!" Someone yanked his hand backwards, cradling it as he blew over the fingers.  
"What happened?"  
"Electric shock- approximately 15 watts in power," the man replied, and stuck his fingers in his mouth.  
"Right." A woman stood next to him and reached out. She gritted her teeth and pressed on, only relenting when her arm started to spasm.  
"Ah…" She yanked back, holding a wildly jerking arm.  
"Ashlyn," Zero growled, "I thought I told ya'll to be careful!"  
"I was," She growled through clenched teeth, "I don't need the hospital."  
"I'll have to remember to be more specific in my orders," He replied ruefully, "Obviously you're all getting a little to used to obeying the letter and not the spirit of the law."  
"What do you expect, sir?" Andin replied, "We work with you, of course we twist the rules to our advantage."  
Zero rolled his eyes and sat on his heels facing the electric barrier. He frowned, trying to figure out a method to pass without damaging his crew.  
"_Hello._" Zero's head snapped up; he recognized that voice. "_I would recommend that you cease seeking entry here. I will allow no one to enter my father's lab." _Neo-Omega's voice was soft, but firm, "_And as annoying as you are, I would rather not have to clear your corpses from my door. Please, choose the course of wisdom and retreat."_  
"We can't do that," Zero replied, standing slowly, and looking around for the source of her voice. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. "We have our orders to find out what's going on here."  
"_I am obeying my father's last commands for me. Is there something wrong with such loyalty?"_  
"No," Zero replied. "Of course not. I honor loyalty, but this isn't practical, and it isn't safe. What happens the next time? What if some child comes here and gets shocked?"  
Her voice was cold as she replied, "_I believe I am able to tell the difference between those who purposefully attack me, and those who mistakenly wander in._"  
"How sure are you, Neo-Omega?"  
"_I am certain. Is that not enough? Do you not trust my judgement?"_  
"I don't know," He replied frankly. "You threw Callion through a building. How sane was that?" His voice was amused.  
"_He would not cease his attempts at capture."_ She sounded peeved. "_I acted in self-defense."_  
"And the holo?"  
"_A Data-Transfer." _She retorted, then sighed. "_If you simply must continue to hold me under inquisition, then I would prefer to handle this face to face."_  
"Do I look fool enough to walk through an electric barrier?"  
"_Frankly_," she replied, "_Yes._"  
"Ouch. I guess I asked for that."  
"_You did,_" she assured him. "_Now are you going to continue your inquiry, or stand there like a lump of iron?"_ Zero made a face and edged forward carefully. When he received no shock, he continued on.  
"Commander!" Andin called. Zero looked back, and grinned. Apparently Neo-Omega could control who passed through- Andin's hair was standing on end.  
"Don't worry about me," He replied, and continued on into the darkness.

Atra watched him come when he reached the last corridor she placed her helmet over her black hair, once again throwing her face into shadow so that her eyes remained hidden. She spun her black chair to face the hall he would enter from.  
"Hello once again, Zero Omega."  
"What, no plain Omega?"  
"As I recall, you told me to call you Zero." She gestured at a chair. "Sit down, please. I wouldn't want my guest to weary."  
"Guest?"  
"Why, yes," she replied, icy amusement in her voice, "After all, I invited you in, and you can't leave until I permit it… of course, it is to my benefit if you leave immediately, but you wont."  
"No, I won't."  
"I know. Now ask. What is it you wish to know?"  
"Do you always wear that helmet?"


	7. Chapter 7: Debate and Death?

Okay... I don't own anything except those figments of my mind, like Atra and the storyline, all the rest belongs to whoever owns it. Other than that.. Myeh, read, review and enjoy. Not necessarily in that order, but close.

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CHAPTER 7 

Sigma glared over his shoulder at Vile. "I want her on our side."  
"She kills every man we get close to her," Vile protested. "We've lost three squads already-"  
"She hates Omega," Sigma replied, turning back to the window. "We want him corrupted, she wants him dead. _One_ of us _will_ win in the end. If she kills our people, send someone new after her. Someone who isn't ours. Intimidate them into a proposition."  
"I doubt she'll buy it," Vile replied. "And how can you be sure she hates Omega?"  
"Because of this interesting little book someone sent me a few months ago," He replied, picking a worn journal up and tapping its spine, " 'Neo-Omega, my daughter. In your hands lies the salvation of a world. I must trust in you to end this horror. Omega may end this world, and you may save it. Do not allow the clouds of corruption to fog your vision. Do not allow prejudices to blacken your mind to the light of reality. Recall, always recall, my daughter, that things may change for worse or better.' " Sigma tapped the spine of the book he had read from, "In other words, she was built to destroy Omega." Vile eyed Sigma doubtfully. That sounded more like Neo-Omega might change her opinion.  
"Yes sir," Vile left to follow his orders. How could Sigma be so blind?

"Signas, she's not insane!" Zero was arguing with the commanding general as he had been for the last hour. "She's defensive, lost, and tired of being hunted!"  
"Zero, she threw a man through a building, and claims self-defense. How can you argue her case?"  
"Callion admits he wouldn't leave her alone," Zero leaned on Signas's desk, frankly wondering the same thing. "She was provoked, and she was acting in self defense. You'd do something similar if people tried to capture you."  
"Zero, that's different," Signas began. Zero interrupted.  
"No, sir. It's not," He ran his fingers through his hair. "Look, yes, she's new. Yes, you're tried and true. No, it's not different. She's fighting for her rights here. She has the right to tell us no and go off on her own. She's not going on murdering rampages, the only people she's killed have been mavericks, and in general, she's not causing us trouble except when we trace her. Why can't we just leave her alone and watch what develops? We have more pressing problems than run-away artifacts." The blonde hunter never thought he'd hear the day when he was arguing _for_ Neo-Omega. That girl was batty, and here he was trying to convince Signas she was sane.  
_What is this_, he wondered briefly, _a lose-lose situation for me? Either Signas listens and she is crazy, or he doesn't and she isn't! Or,_ the traitorous tricky part of his mind said, _or Signas listens and she isn't, or he doesn't and she is. The world is a complex place, get used to it._  
"Zero, we can't just let her walk."  
"What would we be letting her walk with?" Zero cried exasperated, "Chastising and humbling one of your aces? Are you so full of your own honor that you can't let this one jack get away from you? Do you just have to have her on your team?"  
"That's not it-"  
"Then what _is_ it? You've been throwing me and Cain on this at all hours, and I want to know why. Neo-Omega seems sane enough from everything I've seen and heard. Hell, if she weren't female and ice-cold I'd say she sounds like me!"  
"Zero, it's the mavericks. They're trying to win her over, and if she goes…"  
"Sir, it won't happen."  
"How can we be certain?"  
"She hasn't killed anyone of ours, and every maverick she's met has died. I think that's a pretty obvious statement." His tone was dry.  
"That doesn't mean anything."  
"Yes it does! You're just being stubborn because she turned _us_ down flat! Why can't you come down off your ego and look at the facts!"  
"I am looking at them. I'm just seeing a different side than you and Cain see, that's all."  
"No, you're looking at it in a fun-house mirror and seeing what you want to see- a bunch of twisted and distorted things that might have once been called facts! Open you eyes, Signas! She isn't after us. She's after them."

"What am I missing?" Cain asked the air as he rubbed his eyes. His banker's desk lamp lit the open journals before him. Something was wrong in this layout, but he couldn't guess what. Yes he was missing things, but what? How much could happen in a year? _Quite a lot_, his mind reminded him. He let his head fall forward onto crossed arms. _Obviously Neo-Omega knows something about her creator, why else would that line affect her so? _He groaned.  
"I can't hypothesize with no data," he grumbled. "The worst part is, I have data, but not the part I need. One journal has what I'm missing, and that one journal, is the one I'm missing." He clicked the light off and retreated to his bedroom to salvage the few hours left in the night. He would spend them in restless slumber, shallow enough to where the subconscious could work with the conscious to come to a conclusion. A very inconclusive conclusion, but a conclusion none the less.  
He concluded that he couldn't come to a conclusion with out just tossing the information out the window and guessing.

"It isn't working," Atra's fist punched the wall, leaving a slight dent. "Why can't I get access to my father's data files? He stored everything here, I know he did! So why can't I _find_ it?" She leaned her forehead against the wall she had so lately abused. The indentations of her knuckles felt cool against her skin. "If he didn't leave it here, where would he have left it?"  
The capsule.  
She turned and strode irritatedly down the hall to the room where she'd stored the things from her father's other lab. She searched the capsule by eye, ear and feel, running her fingers over every inch of the metal. "Got'cha," she whispered as a panel flipped outwards, revealing a small compartment containing a box; inside the box were the ranks of data chips that held all of her good sire's research.  
"Fire and Ice," she whispered, then repeated it in Latin "Ignis itaque Glacialis… Why, though?" she flipped through the digitized journal, strangely the only journal her father had left her. One part caught her eye. The same paragraph that Sigma had found so intriguing also hooked Atra, but for different reasons.  
"…Omega may end this world, and you may save it. But you must not allow the clouds of corruption to fog your vision. Do not allow prejudices to blacken your mind to the light of reality. Recall, always recall, my daughter, that things may change for worse or better." She grinned as her lips shaped the words and translated them into Latin.  
_Things may change, eh? Trust you to remember to remind me, Father. You always were the cautious type. I will remember. _She continued to flip through the data collected and retrieved. She smiled at some of it. _So the amusing mortal wasn't joking_, she mused, sitting back after an hour or three of study. _The mad ones- mavericks as they're called- are the heart of the Time of Insurrection._ She mulled that over for a while before sliding it into her personal database for her subconscious.  
Atra quietly left her haven and went searching for trouble. It didn't take her long to find it. And if things seemed a little obvious, surely, _surely_, that was only Mavericks being stupid.

"Looky here…" A maverick circled a small child, sounding gloatingly pleased as she trembled in terror. "Little miss is out with out her mama. What'cha gonna do? We've been looking for a playmate-" He reached for her and something flashed. The Maverick bit back a shout as he fell backwards."Wonderful," Neo-Omega's eerie, soft voice cut through the ringing silence with an amused drawl. "I was just getting lonely." She hopped down off her perch and the girl- no older than five- took the opportunity to run for the cover of a wall. The dark figure of Neo-Omega seemed to ignore her as she closed with the first Maverick. He backed up nervously, holding a twitching arm. Her blade flicked out and he fell. She had quite clearly taken Omega's place when it came to instilling fear- no Maverick, or anyone else for that matter, with a dewdrop's worth of sense wanted to fight her.  
_These madmen_, she decided as she calmly gutted a howling enemy, _don't have a dewdrop's worth of sense. _She ducked a sword and kicked up, driving a heel into another Maverick's throat. Her sword sliced another in half as she flipped over a third and landed on his back, breaking it. She turned to the next red-eyed foe, running him through then freeing her blade through his side. Another turn removed a Maverick's head and she flipped, slicing one man through his shoulder to belly as her heel snapped another man's neck, sending him flying backwards into a knot of his fellows. She seemed to radiate a chill that cooled the hottest tempers. Those that refused to end their attack, were encouraged by the blue-black cold-fire of her blade.  
She was half-considering letting the last few Mavericks- their numbers were sorely depleted from the thirty they'd begun with- go, when she heard a scream. Black hair swirled as she turned. A Maverick held the girl-child with the ease of a brute with a kitten. She turned cold with lightning-like speed. _No. Mercy is not for them_. She stalked towards him, her every motion echoed those of cat playing with a mouse. Her lips cured in a sneer as the Maverick- trembling now- played with his knife.  
She was six yards away when he brought the blade close to the girl's face. The child screamed again in terror and pain as the plasma's heat brushed her skin, and Neo-Omega vanished. A hard twist wrenched the plasma knife from his fingers and an electric shock made him drop the girl. The black-clad warrior caught her, and spun her blue-black blade towards the Maverick's neck. When she halted, not even an inch separated the plasma from the black neck of her foe. She made a disgusted noise and turned catching his chin hard with the heel of her boot. _No child_, she thought as she settled back onto her two feet, _no child should have to watch a man die_. The girl was crying softly into her shoulder. She resettled her grip and eyed the last of the Mavericks. They waited warily, out of sword range, unsure of what to make of this mercy stroke.  
_But when no one is looking_… Her lips twitched into a mocking, deadly, cat-like smile. Silver flashed, and the air boomed with thunder. Dirt exploded from the ground, dusting both warrior and victim. _That's when the fun begins_. The little girl was clinging with all her strength to Neo-Omega's shoulder. The child hadn't seen the staring faces etched in horror as lightning struck them down and burned away into darkness, into nothingness and ashes. Atra sat on her heels back to the wall and settled the child on her knee.  
"There now," She soothed, trying to remember how her father had done it with orphans, "There now, the bad men are gone." She cautiously kissed the girl's forehead. She sensed madness from behind her and sighed.  
"Are you certain?" A deep voice inquired. The shadow warrior stood, pulling the girl up into her arms again as the voice's owner stepped around a corner and into view.  
"Do I need to be?"  
"It would be safer if it were true," The man's red eyes glinted menacingly. This was not your average Maverick. _He has far more than a dewdrop's worth of sense_, Atra thought, her face still softly mocking. With no warning, the Maverick raised his hand and did something, she couldn't see what because she was shielding the girl from the force of the explosion. It was strong enough to knock her though another wall and into the open field and waist high grass. The girl struggled to her feet and tugged on her hero's hand.  
"Run," the dark warrior ordered in a voice she could not disobey. Crying, the child pecked her on the cheek and made for the woods as fast as her stubby little legs could carry her. A smile twitched on the woman's lips as she ran status scans. The results were short and decisive. Damage to the spine and major damage to her back; her legs were injured as well as her right shoulder. She couldn't feel any of this, which meant her spinal damage was enough to temporarily paralyze her. Temporarily, because while she could remain conscious through repairs, it would be boring, slow and painful, she fully intended to shut down and let her automatic repair systems work at full-power. Shutting down had an added bonus- she would match all scans with the reploid equivalent of dead. She flicked her left hand- the only one she could move at the moment- and planted a mine before relaxing.  
Atra schooled her face to stony smoothness, and ordered her main systems to shut down.


	8. Chapter 8: The Punishment

Hello, again. I'm enjoying myself with this, and I'm sorry if it seems to be going nowhere. I am trying. Sort of. Anyway, I don't have the license to Megaman etc. Hopefully I don't get sued... Nah, anyway, read, and review. (That way no one dies of boredom. )

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CHAPTER 8

"Well," Vile remarked blankly. "We caught her, and we killed her." There was no hint of the irony he felt in his voice. Sigma would have had him killed if that had slipped out.Sigma grinned mockingly. "This is the creature that terrorized my Mavericks? This the thing that slew so many?" He inquired, laughter hidden in his voice he toed her arm, "She couldn't even protect herself!" The laughter broke free and almost made Vile flinch, long practice kept him in place and blank faced.  
"Yes, sir."  
"Scrap her," The general ordered. "We'll get some use out of this weakling yet."  
Vile ran a few scans, kneeling next to her, then peered at some of the wires visible through a tear. "Not possible, sir," He said respectfully, carefully in a position to lessen the impact of any blow Sigma might throw at him.  
"Why not?" There was a dangerous tone in his voice.  
"She's to different. Even the wires are made of different stuff than ours." He glanced up at Sigma and saw a frown. He coughed delicately.  
"Something more?"  
"We could have- erm- a little 'fun' with her and the Hunters." He suggested hesitantly.  
Sigma brightened a little, curiosity taking the place of anger. "What do you mean?"  
"The Hunters talk, sir. They're just as scared of her as we were. We make a show out of her and hang it out front of their base… Maybe leave a note saying one of them is next. They'll see how bad she looks, and then…" He shrugged, and let Sigma's mind run awry with the chaotic possibilities.  
Sigma smiled cruelly, the idea was a success. "See to it," He nodded, and teleported away. Vile rubbed the back of his head, making a face. "Great…" He muttered, his eyes went to Neo-Omega. He sighed. "Let's go. I saw a metal shop in town, we can work there."  
The Mavericks grinned and two of them hoisted her onto their shoulders. The small crowd started forward, Vile and the two bearing the corpse in the lead. One reploid was unfortunate enough to step on Neo-Omega's last stand. The mine exploded, killing him, the four men surrounding him, and injuring -or just knocking over- the rest. Vile picked himself up out of the dust and brushed his armor clean. Then he turned around slowly, mayhem on his lips. Instead he sighed. "Any idiot who isn't hurt, get off your faces and tend to those who are." He glanced at Neo-Omega and saw a slight -almost smug- expression on her face. He was seeing things, of course. There was a flurry of activity as the remnants of his squad picked themselves up and got to work. While they did that he rested his forehead in his hand, supporting the elbow with his other hand. How _had_ he gotten put in charge of these idiots?

Zero woke to pounding on his door. He glanced at his clock as he struggled into his clothes. He growled a curse, it wasn't even two yet. He yanked the door open. "What is it?" He demanded, not feeling like being polite.  
"That Neo-girl," the women hunter who had so rudely awakened him said, looking the worse for wear. "They found her, and begging your pardon sir, it's a mess."  
"Neo-Omega?" He followed her. "What's going on?"  
"Someone found her when they went to start their patrol." The woman shuddered. "She's been done up all pretty-like," he couldn't miss her sarcasm even in his sleep deprived state. "I can't describe it, you'll just have to see."  
Zero took this with mute acceptance. He followed the woman and yawned as they drove out. It was a short walk, but he was sleepy, and wanted to get there fast. They pulled their bikes in and dismounted. The woman pushed some brush aside and led the way down a short path to a clearing. Zero's most recent yawn died as he saw the spectacle built up.

The black-clad figure of Neo-Omega hung limply, supported by rope and metal blades. Her arms were broken and the elbows dislocated so that they could bend them the wrong direction. White cord was stark against the black of her armor as it wrapped around the joint and through a metal net- it looked like fencing. More ropes bound her wrists and glinted with silver- barbs maybe? A wooden frame supported the mesh and the sharpened pieces of steel that had been driven in just so they took part of her weight, and cut her up while they were at it. Her legs had been slashed up as well. In fact, the only part of her they hadn't damaged, was her head. Black hair draped strait down from under her helmet partially cloaking her, but not covering enough.  
Gashes caked with robotic blood opened on the torso. That was bad enough, but they also bound her ankles with barbed wire that they fed through to hold them against the mesh, forcing them to remain delicately crossed. Barbed wire was also twined in a vine-like pattern around the rest of her, glittering menacingly like stars in a cloudless sky. But most stars weren't stained with the shimmering ruby of blood.  
That settled the question of what was braided with the ropes. Lashed to the mesh beneath her was a metal scroll reading: 'The Punishment.' Apparently Mavericks thought they had a sense of humor. Blood stained the middle of the brass and trickled down the engraved letters, dripping sullenly to soak into the wooden beam below.  
Zero shook his head. The worst thing he could imagine right now, would be having to live through that. "Status?" He inquired, voice just as strong as normal. The woman eyed him with vague disgust- she looked a little green.  
"Dead," Cain answered, walking over from behind the horror. "Her backs torn up and pieces of metal're dug into her spine." He scanned over the cross-like figure. He shook his head. "I can't tell if all that's post-mortem, or pre-."  
"I'm hoping post. Even a Maverick shouldn't have to go through that." He noticed her sword was pinning her through her abdomen. And… What was that? Piercing her to either side of her sword… He turned to look deliberately at Cain before he identified any more injuries. "Anything we can do for her?"  
"A nice burial." The doctor remarked; Lifesavor half fell out of a tree that put him on level with Neo-Omega. Several someone's caught him and set him on his feet. He walked over.  
"What do you say, Cain?"  
"She's dead."  
"Zero?"  
"I'm with Cain." He turned towards the woman, who shrugged her agreement mutely. Lifesavor shook his head.  
"She isn't."  
"Then she went through all of that, just to have to keep on suffering?" Zero inquired. "That's cruel."  
"No. She shut down. I managed to get access to her most recent memories. I didn't- couldn't, rather- hack past the fight. And I couldn't get all of that, just a few flashes. She jumped some mavericks and beat the crud out of them, and then Sigma blasted her through a wall. Most of the damage on her right side came from that- she was protecting a little girl- and that's when she got the spinal damage and shut down. Everything else was done after she shut down. Impressive endurance, though. Despite being almost completely paralyzed she still had the presence of mind to drop a mine."  
"Why shut down, though?" Cain inquired, frowning.  
Zero considered, "Auto-repair."  
"What?" His three companions gave him the same strange look.  
"She's a beta version of me, why shouldn't she have an automatic-repair system?" Zero said reasonably.  
"Good question. Wish I had an answer," Cain replied, turning his confused gaze up to the woman they were discussing. He shuddered and headed towards the team who were sketching on a card table.  
"We'll be shipping her back to the base- after we dismantle that torture trap." Lifesavor looked disgusted. "Mavericks," He put a world of loathing into the word. Zero agreed completely.


	9. Chapter 9: Quiet Return

Wheee... I'm happy. I didn't kill my most-constructive reader. Yay! Anyway, I still do not own Megaman etc. The liscense owner is not responsible for the half-craked ideas I sprout, no more than anyone else is. Except me. I'm most definately responsible. Anyway... Read Review- Please!- and -hopefully- enjoy.

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CHAPTER 9 

Atra opened her eyes slowly, silently, as she rebooted. The room was hospital white. She sniffed delicately and resisted making a face. It smelled like a hospital too. She registered the other people in the room.  
"She's still in her helmet?" A familiar- too familiar, she thought with dim annoyance- voice inquired, very much surprised.  
"She went through so much effort to keep her face hidden, we decided- Signas, Cain, and I- that we might as well let her keep it secret as long as it didn't interfere medically. It didn't."  
Zero shook his head at a doctor Atra didn't recognize. His was the all-too-familiar voice. "Whatever," He said, "How's she mending?"  
"Quickly. I have one last repair to do- her spine-, and she'll be as good as new." The doctor walked out of the range of her vision. When the door shut, Atra sat up and made a face.  
Zero jumped. "I thought he hadn't gotten to the spine yet."  
"A.R." She replied, swinging herself off the bed. She stretched.  
"O-kay." He said slowly and dropped into a chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. "So what happened?"  
"What happened when?" She inquired, her voice bland and innocent. From their previous discussions he was fairly certain she'd say a lot, and not give him one once of information. And from the look of things, she would be beginning the onslaught right away. She sat sideways on the hospital bed.  
"What happened to make the Mavericks display you like some kind of war trophy?"  
"I wouldn't know- I wasn't on, in case you hadn't noticed." She added the last sentence mockingly.  
Zero rolled his eyes. "Then when did you meet Sigma?"  
"I don't know who that is." She replied honestly.  
"Maverick leader. Mean S.O.B."  
"Big man? Deep voice? Bald with a mark on his eye?" She inquired, a hint of curiosity under her emotionless exterior.  
"Yeah."  
"Ah. After I wiped out thirty Mavericks. They wanted to play," She shrugged, "Can I help it if I play rough?" Zero shook his head, once again hiding a small amount of awe. Yes, he could do the same thing, but only when he lost the battle with his temper.  
"Why do this? Last time we talked you danced around. All I got in the way of information was that you had to end the 'time of insurrection' and nothing more." Zero couldn't help but notice that she seemed to have two personalities. She fidgeted on the bed, turning so she faced him, her legs dangled over the edge.  
"They seek to destroy the world as it is known," She replied, shrugging again. The bright lights of the hospital ward vanished into the darkness of her armor instead of reflecting off its glass-smooth surface. "I am simply following my programming."

When Lifesavor returned to check on Neo-Omega, he found Zero sitting in a chair he'd leaned against a wall. His patient was nowhere to be seen. "She's gone," Zero confirmed, seeing the doctor's eyes flick around the room, "Ran off maybe ten minutes ago- I think I irritated her," he added thoughtfully.  
Lifesavor cursed and turned towards the door he had just entered through. "I'll tell Signas," he informed Zero.  
"Great," The Hunter replied, "But first, could you untie me?"

Signas's eyebrows twitched. _Bad sign_, Zero thought, bracing himself for the worst, _very bad sign_. He was, understandably, unprepared when the commanding general burst out in laughter.  
"Are you telling me," He demanded, wiping tears from his eyes, "That this girl- who couldn't move up to an hour before- successfully tied you to your chair?"  
"Yes sir," Zero replied, turning as red as his armor in embarrassment.  
"How?"  
"I wasn't expecting the attack, sir," The Ace muttered, "She surprised me. And by the time I could get my feet under me, I was tied and the doors were swinging behind her," Zero considered briefly before adding, "It looked like she was in pain the whole time, too." _Bad idea_, he thought immediately as Signas's brows plunged downwards into a scowl, _When _will_ I learn to keep my mouth shut?_  
"So not only was she paralyzed up until she attacked, she also attacked while in pain? And she still managed to best you?"  
"Yes sir."  
"You're going to finish your paper work before you go hunting after this- this-"  
"Beta?" Zero offered, Signas's scowl deepened.  
"Get out of my sight, Zero." His voice gave the order a touch kindness it normally wouldn't have held as the general pinched the bridge of his nose and glared over his fingers. "I'm disappointed in you. You may resume fieldwork once you've completed the mountain of paper that has piled up on your desk- and surrounding environs. And by completed, I mean every file, report, and memo."  
"Yes sir," Zero saluted and left, managing to contain the gulp he felt rise up at the thought of confronting his office. His palms and temples felt damp. Mavericks he could handle, but paperwork gave him the chills. He longed to talk to X, but the blue reploid, his best friend, was working the border and had been for months.  
He rubbed his temples as he walked morosely to the mess hall. _So X isn't here_, he thought glumly, grabbing a tray. _You know him better than anyone; what would he tell you?_ "Good question," Zero muttered, taking his lunch to a deserted table. He was the picture of a dejected soldier, picking at his food, when a tray clattered onto the metal across from him and an enthusiastic, familiar, "Hiya!" Broke through his gloom.  
"Hey X." Zero grinned up at his best friend, "When'd you get back?"  
"About the time I hear you were chair-tied," He replied cheerfully, sitting down. If he saw Zero's grimace, he chose to ignore it as he started in on his meal.  
"Gossip travels fast, I see." Zero muttered, his dark mood coming back. He did start to eat his food, instead of acting like it was some alien substance. Although, considering the cafeteria, there was no guarantee that it wasn't. On tasting it though, it proved to be a normal beef sandwich with- albeit oddly colored- chips. Zero eyed them dubiously before trying one; they were, after all, a bright, deep blue.  
"Of course," Was X's mumbled reply- he had a mouthful of sandwich. "You know that," He swallowed, "So what's the deal with this Neo-girl? I haven't picked any of that up. The gossips seem to have moved on to the newest slight dealt to the Ace."  
Zero made a face, but replied, "Cain thinks she's a beta version of me, and maybe he's right, I dunno." He shrugged, "It doesn't really matter. Neo-Omega, short for her designation -which I can't remember at the moment- is… strange." He explained everything to his friend as they ate.  
"So the rumors _are_ true," X said finally, sitting back in his chair to get a better look at his friend. He wasn't sure he like what he saw. Zero looked a little pale, with barely showing bags under his eyes. Considering what a Night-Owl Zero normally was, he figured he was getting less sleep than he usually did, and that said quite a lot.  
"Which ones?"  
"The ones that say your starting to act like a good soldier." X replied pertly. "The ones that say you stay up late to finish some new report, that you haven't been going to the club. My crew and some other hunters are going to the Astral Room tonight to celebrate our return. For you, it's mandatory. You're going to ditch all that work in your office, and go clubbing."  
"X-" Zero began to protest, then stopped, appalled at himself. X stuck his face in front of Zero's.  
"Zero, you aren't acting like yourself. You're working late- _actually_ working and not just _saying_ you're working so you can get _out_ of work to hit a club." He gave his friend one of his looks as he sat back. "Come on. I don't care how much paperwork Signas dumped on you- we're going to skip off and party."  
"Alright. I surrender. We're going." Zero felt a tickling of his old attitude, as he raised his hands like an outlaw caught by a Wild West Sheriff and grinned.  
"Good. And if Signas asks, just say I was helping you out." X's eyes twinkled merrily. "Some of your old friends'll be there tonight, so you'd better act wrong."  
"Wrong?" Zero raised an eyebrow.  
"Yes wrong. You are always the wrong one, I'm the one who's supposed to be on the right side of Signas."  
"Right…" Zero shook his head. As messed up as life got, he was glad to have X back. The little reploid's logical insanity was often exactly what Zero needed to maintain his own sanity.

Atra, once again in her father's lab collapsed in a chair, tired for the first time since she'd been awakened. _Faulty equipment_, she decided, levering herself out of her chair. A major act of will, considering she still felt as if she'd run a gauntlet, and then been the first to cross the finish line in a triathlon, _I'll feel fine once I get some proper repairs and a good charge_. She still ached all over, feeling as if she had a hundred healing wounds, even though she knew very well that she only had a dozen or so.  
Atra ran status scans as she lay down in the repair chamber. She made a face as parts made for her and no one else were installed. Mentally, she cursed the Mavericks, and their designer and Wily (not to mention every one of Wily's ancestors)- no wonder she was so tired! With that many repairs to make, she'd need some more materials soon. Grumbling and using her substitute curses she stumbled from the repair room. She managed to gain control of her feet as she paced down the halls that led to the room that held the machinery she needed to get a proper charge. She grumbled more when she remembered the station didn't automatically refill her. She saw to it that the machine knew to replenish her levels, then collapsed, gratefully, into the dark, padded interior.


	10. Chapter 10: Nightmares

Well... Chapter ten... I don't particularly like this one... But oh well. Again, I don't own Megaman & Co. That belongs to whoever it belongs to. Read and review, and don't die of boredom.

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CHAPTER 10 

Atra never thought of dreams in terms of herself, so she had never expected that, when she laid herself down to sleep, she would suffer from one of the things that mortals lived through nightly. Her eyes drifted shut before her body fell into the black silken material that lined her charging station.

_All around her was blood. She smelled it, could taste it on her lips. Something trickled down her face on the side- more blood. Screams tore at her ears. Children, adults, men and women- their pain carved into her and made itself hers. Her eyes pulled themselves open though she wished they would remain shut. Mavericks grinned their trademark, maniacal grins showing all of their teeth. Swords flashed and guns flamed plasma at innocents. She tried to move, but couldn't. She was paralyzed. The dream shifted._

_Fire boiled up inside of her, but she couldn't move beyond what she was already doing. She fought, her blue-black sabre coldly cutting down the Madmen who dared stand in her way. Her conscious fought while her subconscious watched. Zero Omega fought to her side, hewing around him with a fiery grace. No one who opposed him remained standing. Atra turned back to the bloodshed. Dimly now the screams still reached her, though when her body began to move the scene had changed from a slaughter to a battle. Now they brushed her ears and seeped in to become a part of her. She grinned wolfishly, icily, welcoming these cries of agony. These were not torn from the tormented and agonized throats of victims- these were the screams of the Mavericks.  
Her subconscious considered briefly that perhaps they _were_ victims, until Sigma appeared. His sword flared brightly, cutting friend and foe in his race to reach the Omegas. She smirked and played with her blade, flipping it from hand to hand, sweeping it back and forth. Blood flowed down the fire in dark ripples. Zero, beside her, flicked his blade about as well, though it was less playful than her fidgeting. Soldiers cringed away from the two figures, so similar, and yet so different as they stood there, waiting for Sigma. Like… Like Fire and Ice, she was sure they were thinking, one that burned in its heat, and another that burned with its chill.  
Sigma struck, but not at Zero first, as she had expected, but at her. She dodged back quickly and the green sword cut her helmet before wiffiling past her face. The black helm shattered and fell about her like a dark, broken mirror with light glinting along sharpened edges, or on diamond sharp points. A familiar smirk twitched on her face as he stared. Black hair fell unbound to frame her face and drape over her shoulders to her hips.  
Dark eyes glinted like ice at her enemy. His eyes flicked towards Zero, then back to her as she spun her blade down onto his neck. He brought his own blade up to parry, with more speed than his shock should have allowed, and Zero lunged in. It was a ruse, she realized, a ruse to draw Zero Omega into doing exactly what he was doing now._  
"_Stop-" She began, seeing the shift in Sigma's pose, but too late. Sigma danced aside and removed Omega's head, a second before her blade could leap in to parry the cut. Omega's body fell heavily to the ground, blood pooling as his head rolled to a stop, staring, a few feet away. Atra turned on Sigma, leashed fury in her eyes. _No mercy_ she thought determined. It never occurred to the dream-her that it would not be _she_ who determined what was merciful and what was not.  
It was a short, though very informative, spar._

_Driven to her knees with a broken collar, arm, and leg, all she could do was glare up at Sigma as he taunted her._ If my leg weren't broken…_ she thought grimly, picturing tortures she wished to inflict on the Maverick leader, despite -or maybe because of- the pain arcing all down her side. His sword rose and plunged downwards..._

Atra snapped into a sitting position- or tried to. Her head banged on the crystalline cover to her chamber, knocking her back into the padding with brute force. For the first time since she was built almost a century ago, Atra wished passionately that she had never been created. Also for the first time, she felt the need to cry.  
What was emotion to her, though? She who was to end the rebellion, she who was built to destroy. What use did _she_ have for it? Why did the loss strike so deeply? And a loss that wasn't even real! She hadn't even lost any troops, because what soldiers had she to command? She buried her face in her pillow, muffling the sounds of her sobs.

Zero stopped at the bar and watched X enjoy himself. Several of his friends were on the dance floor, as Zero himself had been for the last half-hour. He sipped his drink and smiled. It was good to be back. Now if he could just shake that tight nervous feeling he'd had for the last hour… _Trust your instincts_, one side of him argued, _Don't fall into a trap because you aren't listening to your own guts.  
Who are you kidding? _His other side inquired scornfully, _All you've got is a feeling something's up, what's that to go on? Better to ignore it and enjoy the night than to worry over something you don't have proof of!_ He drained the glass with a growl. He was getting tired of that internal argument. _I'll enjoy the night but stay on guard_, he informed his two arguing sides tartly, _Happy? Good, now shut up and let me be!_ Whether his arguing with himself or not did any good or not, he didn't care. He felt better and was returning to the dance floor, determined to do exactly what he'd decided. Despite his anxiousness, nothing happened, and he returned to the Hunter's base oddly unsettled. Though… Shouldn't he be relieved?

He said goodnight to X as they came to the officer's hall, then retreated to his room and uneasy dreams.

_It was a cloudless starry night- beauty like he'd forgotten could exist. The soft air tumbled through his hair and filled his nose with the scent of rain and spring. It was a good night, a perfect night, even. He turned looking through the tossed golden strands of his hair to find himself face to face with Sigma. He stepped back, reaching for his sword, before he realized he didn't have a sword. No more than he had armor, or a place to run. He stood on a cliff, his only escape route blocked by Sigma and his troupes. Sigma twirled a needle filled with a pink-tinted liquid. Zero's mouth felt dry, dew gathered at his temples as goosebumps crawled over his spine; he knew that fluid, and he knew he didn't want to have that needle stuck in him. _Oh hell._ He thought, glancing back. Sigma grinned evilly, but then, he was always grinning evilly, and approached. _Die like a coward, die as a crazy son of a bitch and a bastard?_ Zero asked himself, weighing his choices, then turned and dove over the cliff, thinking _Cowards aren't all that bad. He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. And he doesn't go on an insane murdering massacre. That's got to be a plus  
The dream shifted leaving him breathless.

Zero blinked awake and shook his head, trying to put the fragments of a dream together. He heard a muted thud from the next room and got to his feet, pulling a laser-pistol from his bedside table. He sidled up to his bedroom door, the tattered tail end of his dream fleeing completely before the threat.  
He peered through the slot and cursed.  
"Damn it, X, I was sleeping." Zero complained grumpily. "What are you doing here?"  
"I wanted to ask you something that I forgot to ask earlier."  
"What?" Zero ran his free hand through his hair. There would be no silencing X until he was satisfied.  
"Have you seen my badge?"  
"What?" Zero blinked blankly at his friend.  
"I said-"  
"I heard. You woke me up to ask about your _badge?_" Zero shook his head. "The dratted thing could have waited until a decent hour- say 1200?"  
"Come on, Zero."  
"You left it over there." He grumbled, disgusted, pointing at the counter that separated the kitchenette from the living room. "God, you're hopeless X."  
X grinned shamelessly, "I know," He replied. "Any good dreams?"  
"I was in the middle of a great one, I think. I can't remember how it ended, thanks to you," He grumbled, throwing a half-hearted punch at X's shoulder.  
"Alright, alright. I get the picture." X said, surrendering.  
"Good. So can I go to sleep now?"  
"Yeah, I'm on my way out now." X ducked out the door, chuckling. Zero ran over and leaned through it to call after his friend.  
"And if you left one of your tricks here, I'll leave ya for the Black Omega!"  
X shook his head and waved cheerily before ducking back into his room.  
"Damn…" Zero grumbled, returning to his bed. "I hate my friends sometimes…" After replacing the gun he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	11. Chapter 11: Comeback made Clear

Alright. Back on track. Finally. As you may have noticed, I got rid of the crimson club chapters and am replacing them. I didn't like them, and they didn't seem to fit or be necessary. And frankly, they were kind of stupid, so they're gone. Scratched away. That done, here's the new Chapter 11. Read, review, enjoy. And my most profound apologies to faithful readers (are there any left?)

* * *

It took him three weeks to get all of his paperwork done, and would have taken only one if he hadn't resumed his normal schedule of goof off. However, he did enjoy actually being able to see his desk- and chairs, and carpet. _Red_, Zero thought in amusement, admiring the paper-free, burgandy-red carpet, and mahogany desk, _I'd forgotten it was red_. He considered trying to keep up with his work, but decided he'd be better off with a secretary. He grinned at his own folly- him, a secretary! Now that was an amusing thought. What with Signas not-so-happy at him, any perks he might could request under normal circumstances would have to be put on hold. He pulled the door shut and started down the hall to the hanger, whistling cheerfully about his return to the field. 

Atra hummed softly, looking down on the Maverick squad that was patrolling a good distance from their base. Unlike Zero's whistling, though her tune cheered her remarkably, she hummed a funeral march. It seemed to fit the scene, and her mood regarding Mavericks. Any sympathies she'd had towards them had died when she got her status scans back three weeks before. She fiddled with the idea of setting a Maverick up in such a display and leaving it outside Sigma's window, then discarded the idea as beneath her. If she were going to do anyone like that, it would be Sigma himself who hung, not some lesser general. She waited, looking for the perfect opportunity to announce that she was back. While she'd done a few sneak attacks--striking in the middle of the night and flitting away before they knew she'd been there--she hadn't launched a single strike that would decree, "I am Death, I am Immortal. Now learn _FEAR_." And that was the message she wanted them to get. Each and every one of them would die before she returned to the quiet confines of her father's lab. Would die before she slipped back into the darkness of sleep where she could remain until the maddened cries of rebellion called her forth again.  
Her smile was wolfish and hard, icy in the rainfall that rolled off her in unnoticed rivers. Others would have found the rain at least an annoyance, limiting vision and making work harder, and many did, but Atra dismissed it as unimportant. Everything was unimportant beyond the limits of the Rebellion. When they were dead, she could sleep again. That was the end of it. That would _be_ the end of it.  
Her humming stopped as a flicker of crimson caught her eye: Hunters. Nuisances. Falling into the trap so neatly laid for them two days ago by their own prey. Let them. As long as they did not interfere with her, they could do as they liked. The flash of crimson showed a flicker of gold: The First. She dismissed him for the moment; he could be dealt with later. Once the Rebellion was done.

Zero looked around, still mounted on his bike. "The call came from somewhere around here," He commented, his voice carrying easily to the members of his squad. "Look around. Go in pairs, no lone wolfing it." He ordered, slowly dismounting as he looked around.  
"What about you, sir?" someone asked.  
"I'm the commander; I'm allowed to disobey myself." He replied. "Besides, there aren't enough people for all of us to pair off." He flashed them a grin and wandered off in a direction, alert for trouble.  
"Something I'm sure he did on purpose," Ashlyn muttered to the man who'd brought it up in the first place. He nodded and they started their own inspection in a different direction. Slowly the other hunters did the same, quietly fading into the trees.

She waited, counting the minutes until the madmen struck at the scattered squad. _Five… Four…Three… Two… One.._ She listened for the howl, and heard it right on cue, followed by shocked and outraged yells. She crouched, one hand touching the ledge on which she perched, just out of range of the scanners. Her eyes were calm as she surveyed the ebb and flow of this skirmish. Scattered units, frantically attempting to hold their own against a tide of mavericks, were driven back, barely succeeding in blocking the innumerable attacks. She saw the flash of green that was the First's blade, flaming its master's rage at the attack. She could not see what became of those who assaulted him, there were to many trees for that to be clear, but she could hear it, and it was music to her ears.  
He emerged from beneath the cover of the leaves, the falling water washing robotic blood from his armor and blood-mist from around his blade and making his hair hang as limply as her own. No one exited behind him, or lifted a glowing blade for a final plunge, testifying that he had eradicated those who dared strike at him. His eyes, she knew, surveyed the scene with the burning blue flames of anger. When he moved, it was with the same speed that she employed in any assault. When his blade flicked, it was as graceful and as lethal as any of her own strikes. Despairing howls tore from the maverick ranks. They had not planned for this; they had not thought of what an angry Omega was capable of.

Atra smiled a chilly smile, jumping from her post as she saw the reserves come charging from hiding, glows beginning at the mouths of their guns, plasma blades arcing into life. Lightning flashed in the distance, its thunder growling across the field. She landed silently, with a black cat's midnight grace. Mavericks flicked gazes in her direction, in the direction of the unexpected movement, preparing for some new assault. Many of them froze and fell as the Hunter's continued to fight. Blue-black light radiated in cold swirls from her blade. Water burst into steam as it neared the sword, hissing and adding an air of mystique as it swirled around the blade and twined around the Dark Omega. They had not counted on her, either. She lunged forward, the steam dispersing with her motion, flicking her blade. Red-eyed madmen, their taint unbearable this close and in such numbers, fell back and down, some retreating in a thinly disguised rout, others dying, sparking blue, silver and gold from injuries. Sparks that greedily jumped to the nearest maverick and clung, crawling over metal armor like living things. Hunters smiled in relief, they were that glad of assistance. The First ignored her, the fiery strikes of his humming green blade exacting a frightful toll on the rebellious forces. She accepted that and dismissed it from her thoughts. The First could be dealt with later. She cut quickly, driving into the maverick forces until she was surrounded. Now she did not have to watch who she killed.  
A Norse Valkyrie, Damion had called her, applying the term for her beauty, skill, and grace in graceless battle. It applied then and now, as she turned, blade rising to block and twisting to strike, silvery droplets flinging from her long, dark hair as it followed her motion, revealing, briefly, the black and gold '**II**' on her neck. Each motion was incredibly swift, there and done in the blink of an eye, and yet still they seemed unhurried, as though Time itself had to slow its unending trek to watch. On the field of battle, she was almost unmatched; in Death's dance, she danced alone.

Zero ducked aside from a crimson blade, eyes blazing his wrath. His own blade cut back towards his foe, slow with the same impossible speed, dividing a maverick at the waist. He turned, following the battle-dictated steps of the dance, shedding water as he moved, shedding blood with the art of war. Red eyes watched him in awe and fear and anticipation. This was a warrior they knew. This was the closest they had ever seen the Hunter Zero to his maverick self. If only they could take him… Even Neo-Omega would have to bow her head for execution then, if he returned to them.  
Green fire tore through metal, shearing through opponents as swiftly as Death could reap. He was almost maverick, but far enough distant that the mavericks, not humans or hunters, were the target of his brutal assault.

At last, their forces depleted tremendously by the cold fire of Neo-Omega, and the hot rage of Zero, the mavericks retreated, vanishing in narrow beams of light. Panting, disbelieving, the Hunters gazed warily around. For people who had only intended to drag as many foe-men as possible with them into death, they were remarkably, miraculously, alive. Atra smirked, tossing rain-soaked hair over her shoulder to hang properly at her back, flicking her hissing blade through the falling water. Her eyes lingered on the Hunters, on their teams, the dead, and then, lastly, on the First himself, who stood apart, breathing deeply. His eyes stared almost blankly at the dead, and he looked as though he expected to be attacked again. He relaxed, slowly, as his breath returned to normal, and turned to find the unfathomable gaze of Neo-Omega on him, eyes unreadable, invisible in the shadows of her black helm. She smiled, smirking almost, and vanished as only she could. No fancy colored light, no digital sounding sounds, only a flicker in their vision, a rustle of wind and rain, and she was gone, as if she had never been.

* * *

Well, if anyone _is_ still looking at this, it isn't really set at any specific point in the MegaMan universe. It's more I took the world and the characters and such, and put them in a new universe. If game continuity is what someone's looking for, this is probably not the story that they want to read. But it's a story. And it's moving again.  
And just assume I said all the neat disclaimer stuff.  



	12. Chapter 12: More Nightmares

New Chapter 12, as I'm sure you guessed. The stuff that earns money (like Zero, Megaman X, etc. The world. The background) belong to someone who is not me. Atra and the plot is entirely a figment of my imagination, and has nothing to do with them. That said, the story progresses. and please don't shoot me for my long abandonment of Neo Omega. If you shot me, there would be no more instalments.

* * *

CHAPTER 12 

…_He drifted in silence. Nothing stirred around him until he started moving. Yes it was calm there, but who said peace was everything? Zero swam through the ocean with long, easy strokes. _The dream changed, suddenly, sharply_. He stood dressed for battle, his sword raised before him trailing blood. A loose-lipped grin reflected in the terrified eyes of his victim. His own eyes flashed as he cut the head off of the youth's shoulders and searched for his next toy_. Memories swamped him, all perfectly true to reality. All exactly in line with his past. New scenes inserted themselves in among the memories. These were those Neo-Omega had shown him.  
_Zero lounged in a padded chair and watched as his army scurried to and fro. Sigma had, foolishly, allowed Zero to guard his back in that climatic battle against the idiot Hunters, and so Zero had come to power, and dominion over the majority of the land. There were some pockets of rebels, and one or two hunters had escaped the slaughter, but they would die. Slowly and painfully, if he was given his preference. Still, there were things to see to now, such as making sure his new pets would obey him, and weeding out the last of the traitors. He smiled coldly and barked an order. The soldiers jumped to obey, bringing down one he suspected of treachery but had let remain, for a while, anyway. He gestured and they removed the terrified reploid's head.  
It was good to be back. He looked to his right and answered X's question, then traded jibes with him for a minute, before letting the blue reploid return to his work. He watched quietly as X snapped an order and received instant obedience. That had been one of the hardest feats since killing Sigma, getting the little commander on his side. And it had been worth it. It really was a shame he would have to die soon. There was just too much of a chance of rebellion if he left him living for too long. He grinned wolfishly and leaned back. It really was, good to be back…_

Zero's eyes snapped open as the dream released him. It was just as he remembered from the day when Damion brought Neo-Omega in for questioning. Each thought, each step and smile. The scent of blood and looks of fear. The memories of stabbing Sigma in the back just as the fight reached its climax, of killing Signas. All of it was the same. He sat up slowly and tried to rub some color into ice-pale cheeks. The bright gold of late afternoon filtered through the windows and warmed him slowly. He looked around, blue eyes probing every shadow, nook, and cranny, and saw no one. As a commander, he was given his own room, and at the moment, he was glad of it.He stood up and walked unsteadily towards the bathroom and looked in the mirror. His blue eyes were dark, set in a pale face. His blonde hair cascaded down his back, the bright gold only emphasizing the paleness of his skin. Zero muttered some creative curses and splashed cold water on his face. Next time he got the chance, he was going to hurt Neo-Omega sorely. If he remembered, that is. He scowled into the cloth as he dried his face. Why was it that whenever they got a chance to talk, he always forgot to ask about those blasted nightmares? He'd been getting them a little less frequently than weekly, and was getting very tired of it. Especially on days like today when he could use his sleep.  
Zero cursed again. He knew he wouldn't be falling back to sleep anytime soon, so he made for the Mess Hall. No one else from his squad was awake yet, though some of the people from the new squad that had come, at Zero's request, were hanging out there. He grabbed a late lunch, or maybe early dinner, and collapsed on a bench to eat his meal in silence.  
He glared at his food, then noticed something. _At least the chips aren't blue here_, He thought happily, and dug in.  
"Wow. The Commander of the Walking Corpse is up," Zero glanced at the cheery figure and had to grin.  
"When'd you get here?" He asked around a mouthful of food. X sat across from him.  
"Half an hour after your squad collapsed, I'm told. And before you ask, it's my squad so I can keep a leash on you." Zero grinned, unabashed. "Now, you weren't very clear in your report, and everyone else is asleep, so tell me—what's all this about an ambush? And how did you, of all people, fall into it?"  
"We got a distress call as we entered the area." He said, regretfully setting his fork down. "It said something about a hit and run, and the coordinates. It was little garbled, but we figured their transmitter had been damaged in the fight. We got to the place and didn't see anyone, so we split up to see if they'd found shelter from the rain somewhere. They hit not long after that..." He went on, telling X every detail he could remember, which, after the fight started, wasn't much.

X frowned. He could imagine the exhausted and relieved Hunters plodding wearily through the rain to a nearby out post Signas had ordered built during the last war (though in reality they'd driven). Everyone else, he knew, had gone right to sleep, neglecting even to inform the people stationed there of what was going on, though Zero had had the presence of mind to call the Commanding General before the man threw a fit, for once. "I went to the coordinates with my unit on my way in," He commented. "I got the general idea of the assault from the bodies and such, but I still don't see how you and your crew managed to win, with almost everyone still alive and capable of getting here. They had a good plan…" He trailed off thoughtfully and turned his warm brown eyes to Zero.  
"I blame Neo-Omega," He said with a shrug as he resumed eating his meal. "She came in early on and left sometime near the end of the fight. A large number of the casualties can be attributed to her." He left out his own part, knowing X would already know.  
"So she's back in the game, is she?" X propped his chin on his fist and stared at the door, thinking. Zero finished his plate and deposited it with the washers. When he returned X was still staring absently. "You know… I've heard a lot about her, but I haven't seen her."  
"Yet," Zero added, and shoved a slice of blueberry pie at his friend, along with a glass of milk. X grinned.  
"Yet," he agreed. "But y'know… I kind of have to wonder why I haven't. Most of the base, it seems, has made her acquaintance, to their sorrow or great good fortune." Zero smiled at that; dealing with Neo-Omega was like playing with fire. Very cold fire, but fire none the less. "And all I have of her are rumors, or first-hand accounts like your own."  
"And if you're lucky that's all you'll get. Now eat your pie." X meekly obeyed, causing Zero to laugh.  
"So, why're you up early? You still look like, well… A walking corpse." X pushed his empty plate to the side and Zero copied draining the last of his milk.  
"Nightmares," Zero replied, rubbing his face with a hand as he set his glass down. _Damn, I wanted to avoid this_, He thought glumly, but X was a very hard person to lie to, and he didn't feel up to even trying at the moment.  
"Nightmares?" X repeated incredulously, raising an eyebrow. "You're hiding something, old buddy."  
"Well… it's more like memories. I keep reliving scenes from my past, only everything's sharper and more real." X watched him, mute. Zero scowled and gave in to the unspoken order. "Alright, alright. There's something else that bothers me more than my past. You remember hearing about Neo-Omega's little 'visit' to the headquarters?" X nodded and Zero continued. "Well, while we were talking she… did something—I don't know what—and called to mind all these… scenes that I _know_ I never lived through." He fumbled for words to explain it. "And lately I keep dreaming about them. Sometimes it's a battle, or I'm supervising Mavericks, but it always has the same undertone. Like… poison, or something. And they're just as real as the blood I _have_ shed."  
"And you had one of those earlier?"  
"Yeah…" He described the nightmare, knowing X wouldn't leave him alone until he did. "And if I ever get my hands on that New Last, or whatever her name means, I fully intend to strangle her."  
X half-smiled, that sounded like the Zero he knew. An idea nudged at him, and he went with it. "Maybe it's her way of warning you. You might be missing something when you wake up."  
"What, so I'm supposed to stay asleep when I don't control my waking?"  
X shrugged and picked up his stuff. "Maybe I'm just crazy, either way, can it really hurt to look?" He walked off, whistling cheerfully. Zero scowled after him, then left himself, leaving his plate on the table. He climbed the stairs to the roof and leaned on the edge, facing west. People scurried in the streets like ants making Zero smile at their antics. He turned his face up to the wind and let it run through his hair. Maybe he _was_ missing something, but did he really want to know what? If it meant ending the dreams, yes… But there was no point in rushing back into another nightmare, so he let himself relax as the sun slowly drifted down towards the horizon, painting a gold, orange, and violet sunset.

* * *

I noticed some people liked the club chapters, and I guess they weren't bad in and of themselves, but they really didn't work. And someone was looking for X: he shows up here, but he's really _not _a main character in this story. He's more a support/background character than anything else. Atra's helmet is mostly a running thing. He asked because he's never seen her without it... I think that's everything I missed answering... Anyway, Read, review, hopefully more of you won't die (I really ought to take better care of my readers) between now and the next chapter. 


	13. Chapter 13: The Commencement

Wheee! Okay, writer's high. Anyway, she's up! She's at 'em! And Sigma's got a new pair of shoes. Actually, he's got something going on in his brain, and that's even more exciting, since he doesn't wear shoes!Yeah, I ought to be gagged. Anyway: yadda, yadda, don't own Megaman X, Zero and Co. Indeed, only the story and non-liscenced characters are my mine, and figments of my sick imagination. Or something.  
Any way... Let the show commence!

* * *

CHAPTER 13 

Days had passed since the ambush, so carefully calculated to Zero's tastes, so expertly arranged to draw him out, and scatter his troops. It had been a small but fatal miscalculation that their ploy had failed. In all honesty, Atra truly believed that, even had she not been there, the madmen would have perished in equal numbers. Indeed, she thought the only true advantage she had offered was that of surprise and a second sword that was matched only by Zero enraged. The dark Omega stared at a simulation of the battle, perfect in every detail. It was a marvelously assembled assault, she must admit. Enough soldiers to hold the squad and destroy them, and more to strike at the First. But they had forgotten his… humanity, as it were. His emotion.  
Yet something in the scene seemed wrong. Something in their strategy, in the shape of the ambush, whispered at a hidden motive, like the breeze that enters a dark cave and ripples over the slow drip of water. She turned away from the tiny figures that dueled eternally over the holo-player and to a screen, typing a query in. Her eyes widened behind the perpetual shadows of her helm, as the answer to her search appeared, reminding her of something older.  
Calculated, she had thought. Designed with an artistic expertise that turned a simple ambush into a masterwork of planning, with only the one critical flaw. Catered to the First, she had thought.

She had been right.

Atra rose, turning as she did so, her silken shadowy hair swirling about her like a black cloud. She would have thought little of such a monumental plan, having seen their strikes before, but now? No, whoever planned _this_ strike, whoever was in charge of _this_ ploy, would learn from their mistakes. Each attempt would come closer, and closer, until finally…  
Silently, almost eerily so, she strode across the room and down a hall. Such swift, long steps should have clicked against the stone, but her boots were silent. Her figure was swallowed up by the darkness, no sound returning from the black hall.

Sigma watched Vile from the corner of his eye. The reploid was trembling. Whatever he had to say was bad news. "What is it?" He demanded after a long moment.  
"The… The Neo-Omega woman…" He coughed into his fist nervously. "She's- ah- She's not as dead as we thought…"  
" "Not as dead?" " Sigma repeated, turning from the window to watch his soldier with empty eyes. "How can someone be 'not as dead?' Either you are dead, or you are not."  
Vile shifted nervously again, Sigma's eyes increasing the feeling that something was not right. The controlled tone of voice the man was using only added to Vile's alarm. "She- ahm… She managed to trick the scanners, sir."  
"Trick?" Sigma inquired with no hint of emotion. Vile shifted again. Sigma was hot madness, not chill authority. He was careless with his troops, and left the mundane work for Vile to do. 'Careful,' and 'Cautious,' were never words with which the commander of the Maverick Army could be accurately described.  
"Ah, yes sir," Vile said, allowing his fear to show, though not his confusion. "Apparently she wasn't _dead_ per say, but… unconscious."  
"And she didn't wake up when you did _this?_" Sigma turned a hologram around and Vile grimaced, seeing it was of the display they'd made of her.  
"No sir. I would say she shut down, but that's not possible. If she shut down, then she wouldn't come back up until someone woke her—and they don't know how to do that."  
Sigma regarded his second in command for a long, unblinking moment. Vile held steady for a second, then fidgeted, confused and, for once, truly scared of his commander.

Finally Sigma spoke.

Zero was lounging in his quarters, enjoying one of those rare, quiet moments when he did not have to rush off to an emergency or file a report. Well… He had a report to write, but he could afford to put it off for a few hours—or weeks…  
He, X, and Alia were all relaxing, trading jokes and stories, and, through an unvoiced mutual agreement, saying nothing about their work, the war, or the mysterious black warrior who appeared and vanished, occasionally, still, assaulting Hunters, though never lethally, and never for permanent damage. They were laughing at something X had quipped, when a soft knock interrupted them; Zero rose, turning towards the door to answer it.  
"Zero," X said quietly, his voice still too loud in a sudden silence that echoed with the abrupt death of their laughter. Zero looked back to see two puzzled faces. "That knock didn't come from the door." The quiet rapping sounded again, coming from the next room. Scowling, he followed the sound into his bedroom. He threw the window open as the dark figure that had settled there fled. He lunged out to catch them, but his fingers barely brushed the smooth curve of an ankle as it pulled just beyond his reach. Whoever it was—and he had a nasty suspicion he knew who—was gone. He stared out at the star scattered sky and shadows for a long moment, before pulling himself back inside and shutting the window with a disgusted sound.  
He turned to find X in the door, Alia peering around his shoulder, a small hand gun in his left hand. "What was that all about?" The younger, in personality, at least, commander inquired. Another knock, this one definitely from the door prevented Zero from answering. He growled and stalked to the door, jerking it open with no care, ignoring the code pad to the left.  
There was no one there. Just a slip of paper that drifted down to settle on his outstretched palm.  
Zero slammed the door shut, his hand crumpling the paper as it curled into a tight fist.  
"What did it say?" Alia inquired, vainly tugging at the end of the sheet the protruded from his hand, curious as to what could silence the fiery Zero. After a long moment he released it to her gentle attempts at retrieval and ran his fingers through his hair.

_Omega--  
It is imperative you know the Mavericks have created a new warrior, more powerful, perhaps, than even you. It is my intention to destroy it, yet the chances are great that I will fail. Be warned, Omega, there will be others, and even I will seek your head in time.  
--Neo-Omega_

"Why the hell would she tell me this?" He demanded as X and Alia looked up. He did not ask, though Cain would have, why she called him Omega, and not the First. Or why she used him as an example of extreme power when prior experience had shown her to be better, at least as far as she was concerned. Or why she seemed to think it would be her own death, destroying that thing?  
"And why the little numbers at the bottom of the page?"  
Zero stared blankly at Alia for a few moments, at which point she sighed, turned the paper around so he could see it, and pointed at a small line of digits barely recognizable as Arabic numerals.  
He blinked.  
Alia put the sheet in his hand and sat at a console in the wall, typing quickly. "Zero?" She called, turning to look at him, a finger pointed at the screen.  
Oh. _That_ was why.  
"I'll tell Signas," X offered, trotting out the abused door.  
"It would have been a good ambush, too," Alia remarked as the two of them stared at the screen. "Very good, if she hadn't told us it was there."

* * *

So, yeah. Chapter 13. I'm actually getting this show on the road again. I apologize, once more and profusely, for the extremely long delay. At least I cleaned up a bit! gestures at the vain attempt to remove the dust and cobwebs Yeah. Next chapter, coming soon! (I mean it!) 


	14. Chapter 14: Undignified

Well. My friend really wanted to Guest-Write this chapter, so I was going to let her... but, well, she didn't. I finally decided to quit waiting on her and do it myself.  
Anyway, I'm going to really work on this thing and finish it. Even if no one reads anymore. (For which I don't blame them: I wouldn't be reading either!) So. Chapter Fourteen.  
_Undignified._

* * *

  
The coordinates Neo-Omega had left with them referred to a junkyard one of the lieutenants had cleared out a few weeks back. "Easy," the man had reported, bleeding from a cut on his cheek (he was one of the few humans in the ranks.) "Almost too easy." Zero understood the report better now, prowling through the towers of crushed cars and defunct reploids and computers. Half of it was a walk through time, broken artifacts from prior centuries were amassed at the bottom of the junk heaps, the layers slowly building up to the most recent additions.Half of it was the suspicious creeping in the shoulders of someone who expected to be jumped every minute.And half of it was something else. Something not right in the rat's-maze of corridors opened to the sky.  
_Too many halves,_ the commander muttered in his mind, listening and dismissing the fleeting thought. He could have taken the more treacherous paths up high, but in the maze he was a harder shot. He had a better chance of seeing them before being seen. So he wandered, slipping through the disorderly mess that had, in some earlier era, been laid out as sensible. He heard nothing but the whistle of a desolate wind through the towering columns. He saw nothing but the discarded relics of the past, the mingled treasure and filth and waste that marked the rise of modern society.

Elsewhere in the same silent maze, Atra abandoned the sunlit heights for the shadows of the depths. She was looking for something. One thing, in this whole large yard, and was beginning to doubt that she would find it before they began their strike. The crying wind tossed her black-silk hair flinging wisps into her face as it rushed from behind into beyond, brushing over her as though she were just the same as everything else within the junk yard. To it, she was no more important than the broken toaster by her toe or the gilded curve of some ancient decoration that, had she been interested, might have brought her a hefty sum at market. Any market.  
But she had no interest in it, and her interest in the mindless wind was only rivaled by its own in her: which is to say, she cared not at all.  
Beneath the tormented moan of the yard, sounds still came to her. Sounds such as the clank of a too-careful step. And mingled with the scent of rusting iron and broken slate and sunbaked and shadow-chilled concrete that swept by was the scent of madness.  
The Second turned into the wind and smiled at the curve of broken metal, beyond which was a gathering of playmates.

Zero snapped around at a howling scream that was not the tear of wind through bent steel and broken casing. He dashed over scarred and stained concrete paths, striding over or jumping those things that had fallen across his way. The sound was voiced again, a scream torn from a throat in agony, a sound that lent wings to his heels. He followed it through the maze of twisted metal and broken glass, only to emerge in a clearing in the forest of junk. Blue eyes swept the open space, brushing over crushed steel and scraps of metal, past refuse knocked from towers. Particle clouds like wreaths of smoke swirled as he skidded to a stop, his once-shiny, dust-dimmed boots scraped the surface of the ground. Beneath the lonesome cry of the zephyrs that played in the canyons of discard, another scream rose and lasted to the point of collapse: shuddering, breathless, bleeding collapse, oil oozing and life-sparks falling everywhere... Zero began to move towards it, flicking his green saber to life, lethality in each step, silence beneath the _clunk-whirr_ of some machine near by attempting activity.  
He spun, blonde mane arcing around him.  
Too late.

_Too late,_ Atra cursed within her mind, her dark, shadowed gaze fixed on the struggle, pale white mist steaming from the heat of her coldly-flaming blade. She had done away with her playmates swiftly, lethally, and their blood it was that drifted on the mournful wind, crossing the ripple of her black hair and void-hued armor like galaxies of stars too small to be identified. She gazed, face impassive below the shadows of her helm, silent stone as it always was. Or always had been: recent weeks had tried the stableness of rock and found it wanting, forcing fluctuations passed the hard ice of the unbending.

_Claang._

For a moment there was silence, then a shout of rage.  
"LET ME DOWN, DAMN YOU! THIS IS _UNDIGNIFIED!_"  
Atra shook her head slowly; the First's antics did more harm to his dignity than his position, she felt, but made no motion to inform him.

Zero thrashed, his arms and legs flailing uselessly, his back stuck fast to the electromagnet used to transport metal garbage to and fro. His had been the shout. The clang had been his back striking the smooth surface of the magnet.  
"Hello, Omega." That voice... He fixed his blue gaze on the shadowy, sadly so familiar figure, and glared down at the woman.  
If looks could kill, Neo-Omega would be dead.  
She turned her shaded eyes up to meet his furor with calm placidity of a glacier, a thin smile on her lips such as he had never seen before. But the smile was forgotten as, for the first time, he got a clear look into her elusive eyes.  
The Crimson Ace fell silent, a vehement, perhaps vulgar protest whithering on his lips as he stared into those eyes. His blue-flamed rage washing away under shock; the cold, shill waters doused his fiery protest in an instant.  
'_I don't know that anything could stop her_' her creator had written...

* * *

And the plot thickens! Yes! FINALLY! The Chapter is complete. And _Gyah_: so many apologies, so very, very many...  
I don't own Megaman and co. I wish I did, other legal disclaimers and yadda yadda here. I've got chapter 15 open on my desktop RIGHT NOW and am working on it. I just re-wrote the whole last part of this story with this chapter, so I can't just make edits to my old chapters and put 'em up one-two-three, unfortunately... _What?!_ She had chapters written and _didn't post them?!_ Yeah... I thought they were bad. And they were. And are. So back to work with me. Hopefully the police don't arrest me for killing all my readers... 


End file.
